Ducks Partnering With Grocer To Feed Families This Thanksgiving

The Ducks have announced a new partnership with grocer Smart & Final that will assist the We Give Thanks Foundation in its effort to feed people in need on Thanksgiving this year. After learning that the We Give Thanks Foundation was going to be short roughly 600 turkeys this year, the Ducks approached Smart & Final, a Costco-style grocery chain in California, and created a partnership that will allow fans who purchase turkey vouchers from the grocer to exchange those vouchers for two tickets to a Ducks game. A turkey voucher will cost $15.26 and buyers can redeem those vouchers at the Honda Center for one of three Ducks games: November 19 vs. Tampa Bay, November 23 vs. Calgary or November 25 vs. Carolina. Smart & Final will put the vouchers toward the purchase of the equivalent amount of turkeys and donate those turkeys to the We Give Thanks Foundation. The foundation will use those turkeys to offer a free Thanksgiving meal to an expected crowd of nearly 20,000 people free of charge in the Honda Center parking lot. Ducks Senior VP & CMO Bob Wagner: “There was a need that was there and it gave us a chance to find a partner in a category that was open. It made it unique and this became something pretty cool” (Tripp Mickle, SportsBusiness Journal).

LENDING A HAND: The Anaheim Ducks Foundation on Saturday will auction the camouflage jerseys the team wore prior to Tuesday's game "for the benefit of Operation Homefront, an organization that provides emergency and morale assistance for troops returning home from service." The Ducks also have donated tickets to this Saturday's game against the Coyotes at Honda Center to Operation Homefront and the Veterans Ticket Foundation (LATIMES.com, 11/4).