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Myles Turner Helps Serve Up Meals at Wheeler Mission

On Monday evening at the Wheeler Men's Mission in downtown Indianapolis, Myles Turner walked through the doors to lend a helping hand to those who stopped in for a warm meal.

But first, Turner was given a tour of the facility, whose mission statement is "to provide critically needed goods and services to the homeless, poor, and needy of central Indiana without regard to race, color, sexual orientation, creed, national origin, or religion."

Many of the guests of Wheeler Men's Mission stared in awe at the 6-foot, 11-inch Turner, correctly guessing that he must play for the Pacers. After Turner got a couple of challenges to games of 1-on-1 in the courtyard, dinner was fast-approaching.

Turner slipped on an apron and a pair of gloves, and began serving up food as over 150 local men lined up for their meals.

Turner passed out trays of food to the men as they one-by-one walked through the door for a hearty dinner.

"Giving back is something very important to me," Turner explained after the roar of dinner rush had subsided. "It's something that in my community, I grew up with. My mom taught me at a very young age to respect others and to give to others."

Lori King, who has been volunteering at Wheeler for more than three years, was happy to have the extra help.

"This is the first time it's happened to me," said King of having a local athlete coming to lend a hand. "I think it's really neat. There are a lot of guys out there wanting his autograph and everything, and it's all for them."

So after dinner, Turner made sure whoever wanted an autograph received one.

"Being an athlete, I think the biggest thing on giving back is just using our platform and lot of these people really look up to us just because of our talents and abilities," Turner explained. "And given our financial status, it's easy for us to take for granted what we have and what others don't, so I definitely try to take any opportunity I can to give back."

While not everyone possesses Turner's platform, helping Wheeler Men's Mission is simple according to King.

"Volunteer your time, donate, this is a nonprofit, so everything is donated," she explained. On an average night, King has around 10 volunteers to help with dinner, but she's always looking to add more.

Helping those who have fallen on hard times is nothing new for Turner, who has his WARM initiative, which is an acronym for We All Really Matter. And being a participant of the WARM initiative is easy. Just keep a WARM package in your car during the months of winter, and if you see someone in need give it to them. The packages can include: bottled water, juice packs, peanut butter crackers, cheese crackers, granola, cereal bars, Poptarts, fruit cup, nuts, cough drops/tylenol, wipes, Kleenex, tooth brush/toothpaste, lotion, chapstick, socks, gloves, hand warmers, and thermal blankets.