Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN/WGR Sports Radio 550) - It was a busy morning for many Western New Yorkers, as they flocked to the Tops Friendly Markets in West Seneca and Tonawanda, as well as the KeyBank Center surface lot in Downtown Buffalo to donate their frozen turkeys for the annual "Turkeys for Tickets" drive.
The Buffalo Sabres, once again, partnered with Audacy Buffalo and Tops Friendly Markets on Wednesday for "Turkeys for Tickets" to not only give residents the chance to donate their turkeys for a good cause, but also get the chance to receive a ticket voucher to an upcoming hockey game this season.
In West Seneca, local residents started lining up about an hour before volunteers began taking donations. Once the volunteers helping collect the turkeys started getting the lines of vehicles moving, there was a constant flow of people dropping off their goods.
"We're Buffalo. We love our sports teams. We love the Sabres, we love the Bills, we love the Bisons, we love the Bandits. But it's more than that," said Dorian Volsch, director of development and marketing with the Buffalo City Mission. "The people we get to see day-in and day-out, especially with events like this, they're just happy to be here. They're happy to come together. As a community, we're best together. We see that day-in and day-out.
"Here in Buffalo, we're a very generous community, and a lot of the people in our community, they come together. They see something that's an injustice, something that we don't want to see our good neighbor struggling like this. We want to do something about that, and we can. So they come in, we see them, and they get to bless somebody in need."
Last year, Volsch said the City Mission received 2,500 turkeys from this particular drive, and are hoping to exceed that number for families in Buffalo and beyond this year.
This year is the first year back for Tops partnering with the Sabres for "Turkeys for Tickets", and they're extremely proud to help out those in need in the Western New York community.
"It's so important for us, as part of our 'Neighbors, helping neighbors,' philosophy to give back to the community," said Andy Brocato, director of community relations with Tops. "We're so excited that we're doing Turkeys, it's going to go back to the City Mission and FeedMore WNY. All the partners are here today, we started early. The lines were here early, and it's been a great time ever since."
Rich Jureller, director of community relations with the Sabres, can't wait to hear the count of turkeys received for this year's drive.
"A lot of big turkeys this year, a lot of 20-pound-plus. So it's great," said Jureller with WBEN at the Tonawanda location. "Eric Boulton's here, Derek Smith's here, two former Sabres, and people enjoy seeing them. And a lot of familiar faces. We've done this long enough where you see a lot of the same people year-after-year. So it's nice that it's become a tradition for a lot of people, and most importantly, it's going to help a lot of people too."
Jureller says the partnerships formed with the likes of Tops and Audacy Buffalo are important to make these types of donation drives really work, but also to make a significant impact on helping the community as much as possible, especially during the holidays.
"In my job, I'm lucky enough to have an understanding, through working with all these folks, at just how big the need is. And it's sad. There are a lot of people in our community that, for whatever reasons this time of year, need some extra help, and we're thrilled to see people come out and help them," he said. "We're thrilled to be a part of the effort to help, and hopefully it's a brighter holiday for a lot of people because of this, and it makes it all worth it. The work they do at FeedMore and City Mission every day is incredible. And the people they serve and help, and the families that need it, it's what our community is all about."
According to FeedMore WNY, they gathered a total of 2,774 turkeys on Wednesday.