What happened the day Matthew McConaughey showed up with frozen turkeys

What happened when Matthew McConaughey showed up in Lawrenceburg with 4,500 frozen turkeys? He surprised a crafting club, strangers sitting at home, and even a bride getting ready for her wedding, all to thank the town that makes Wild Turkey bourbon.

On Nov. 4, the Oscar winner, who also is the creative director for Wild Turkey and the face of its ad campaign, joined 250 Wild Turkey volunteers to hand out donated Butterball turkeys around town on his 48th birthday.

“Do you know what this is?” McConaughey asked as he walked in one house.

“That’s a sexy man carrying a turkey!” a woman said.

McConaughey even surprised the Wild Turkey workers, who didn’t know that he would be joining them for their pre-Thanksgiving deliveries.

“In one of our very first conversations, master distillers Jimmy and Eddie Russell told me that the town of Lawrenceburg is what keeps the Wild Turkey family running,” McConaughey said in a statement.

“The support system in this community is amazing — in one form or another, everyone has some kind of relationship with Wild Turkey — and that’s why we were so grateful to have the resources to give back and say thanks to Lawrenceburg residents. We thought, let’s give everyone a turkey — one less thing for them to worry about this season.”

After a pep speech, McConaughey and the volunteers set out in cars and buses with more than 60,000 pounds of turkey to canvas Lawrenceburg’s six square miles. Crews blanketed each neighborhood on foot from sunup to sundown, going door to door to drop off the frozen birds.

They also donated more than 500 turkeys to the local food pantry, and the distillery made a donation equaling 50,000 Thanksgiving meals to the anti-hunger organization Share Our Strength to help families in need across the country.

Wild Turkey is encouraging fans to join them in their Friendsgiving to End Hunger campaign to support those who could use a hand this holiday. Fans can host a Friendsgiving fundraiser in their hometown or make a donation to support Share Our Strength’s work to end hunger in America.

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 11:23 AM with the headline "What happened the day Matthew McConaughey showed up with frozen turkeys."