Wolves Give-Thanks Event

Al Jefferson is used to serving up dunks on a nightly basis for the Wolves. On Monday night, Jefferson served up a Thanksgiving style dinner to a mixture of Purple Heart recipients from World War II, Vietnam, and Iraq at the View Restaurant in Minneapolis. The complete Wolves roster and coaching staff joined Jefferson in an extremely important event for the organization.

"Tonight's event is really the culmination of a lot of things we do during the month of November, where we really honor the troops, the servicemen and women who have served in our country in some conflict starting with WWII all the way up to today's conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan," team president Chris Wright said.

Brian Haglund served in Iraq during the summer of 2005 and in the winter and spring through 2006-2007. Haglund was just one of the 160 people on hand for the annual Give-Thanks event in part of The FastBreak Foundation’s Operation Minnesota Heroes Month presented by POPP.com.

"I never expected anything like this, it's really cool, and it’s good to see an organization is supporting veterans real publicly,” Haglund said.

The night began with Wolves broadcasters Alan Horton and Kevin Lynch addressing the crowd while recognizing the achievements of the servicemen in attendance. The true enjoyment was displayed on the faces of the players as they dished out turkey and all the fixings for dinner.

"It makes it pretty cool, I mean you know it's the holidays, any time you get a chance to put a smile on somebody's face is a great thing, and it makes us feel special also that we can put a smile on their faces just from being here with them," Sebastian Telfair said.

The Give-Thanks event even included appearances from the team mascot, Crunch and the Wolves dancers. Families of a soldier killed in action and military service members that have recently served in a combat zone were also recognized. As the night concluded, players displayed their skills as waiters to serve dessert along with signing autographs and taking pictures, courtesy of Polaroid.

The Wolves showed their admiration for the military on an evening in which basketball was put on the back burner and the contributions of the men and women to the country were celebrated.

"It feels real good because you know for what they did for us going overseas, fighting for our country, it means a lot,” Corey Brewer said. “So for us to try to come back and give them something, it means a lot just to meet them.”