Davita CEO Kent Thiry and Willie Allen (Right). (Team PR Photo)

Willie Allen, driver of the No. 13 National Pork Board/Nashville Music City Chevy Silverado in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, recently participated in Tour DaVita to raise funds and awareness for kidney disease. Allen joined more than 200 DaVita employees on the first day of a 230 mile bike ride through Alabama and Tennessee. Riders embarked on the journey hoping to raise $500,000 in donations for The Kidney Trust, a fund that was formed to benefit the 20 million American adults living with Chronic Kidney Disease, as well as the 320,000 Americans with kidney failure who are on dialysis. Tour DaVita participants finished day one of the ride by stopping at Collinwood High School in Tennessee where they worked side by side with volunteers from the local Boys and Girls Club to build bicycles for needy children.

"I had a blast doing the Tour DaVita ride," said Allen. "We started the ride in Sheffield, Alabama with about 250 DaVita employees and biked for about 60 miles through the country roads. At the end of the day we made a stop at a local high school in Collinwood, Tennessee where we helped build bicycles for underprivileged children in that area. It was definitely an incredible experience that I will never forget. The Kidney Trust is a great charity and they do great job with their fundraising efforts. So many people in this country are affected with kidney disease and it is important that we do everything we can to help raise awareness for the disease."

The Kidney TRUST was founded in 2006 by DaVita Inc., one of the largest providers of dialysis services in the United States. The TRUST is an independent public charity whose programs are intended to complement the efforts of other nonprofit organizations that focus on Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), as well as develop solutions to address the critical unmet needs of people with CKD. The TRUST is piloting a low cost testing and screening program to identify individuals with CKD (Stages 1,2,3,4) in order to refer them into care. The program model is designed to be implemented in non-medical settings for use in large volume environments and community-based venues. For more information or to make a donation, please visit www.kidneytrust.org.