Slugger McGwire donates health bars to Floyd victims

More than 8,000 Mark McGwire Maxxbars were delivered to Greenville, N.C., last week after the slugger called his partner in the health-bar business in Mooresville and asked him what he could do to help victims of the hurricane.

McGwire called Randy Baker at C&B Marketing, the company that distributes the chocolate nutrition bars, after watching the devastation on television. They agreed the best thing they could do was donate some of the bars to victims.

Flooding blocked a truck carrying the shipment from reaching East Carolina University, but Brad Steen with C&B reached a Greenville television station that was organizing a food drive to help residents.

The Maxxbars were finally delivered to a Greenville store unaffected by the flooding and then given to local helping agencies.

Maxxbars went on sale last spring in grocery stores, drug stores and health-food stores. The 1.6-ounce Ultimate Maxxbars normally retail for between $1.30 and $1.50 each and will soon sell nationally.

The health bar was developed by Extreme Nutritionals, a Mooresville company formed by McGwire and Baker, owner of RCB Management Inc., a private investment company based in Mooresville.