The Warriors tipped-off the team’s Plays for the Holidays outreach initiative this holiday season by inviting five deserving families at Lucky Supermarket on Wednesday, November 12 for a supermarket shopping spree. Warriors players Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, along with Assistant Coaches Luke Walton and Jarron Collins and community ambassador Adonal Foyle, each joined the families to help shop for their holiday groceries and wish them a wonderful holiday.
“We’re here at Lucky Supermarket and I’m happy to take the Barrera family around for their food needs and make sure they have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year,” said Green.
After a enjoying a pizza party held nearby, the five families stopped by the Lucky Supermarket in Alameda to find five shopping carts decorated in Warriors white with their names on them, and ABC-7 sports anchor Mike Shumann announcing a big upcoming surprise. The curious parents and children were then handed personalized Golden State Warriors jerseys to wear before the players and coaches popped up from behind the bakery aisle to surprise the families for the shopping spree.
“When Klay and all of them came out and surprised us and said they were going to give us Thanksgiving food I got really excited,” said one of the children.
After meeting each of the family members and taking a group photo, the groups split up to race through the aisles and cross items off of their holiday grocery shopping lists. Whole turkeys, sweet potatoes and cranberry sauces piled into the carts as quickly as the families’ personalized Warriors shopping carts could move.
“Being able to provide food for the holidays is an unbelievable feeling, but the chance to connect with this wonderful family and have fun with the kids is really what this event and the holidays are all about,” said Walton.
After going through all of the aisles of the Lucky Supermarket and loading up on all of the holiday essentials, each Warriors player and coach helped bag the family’s groceries as the cashier happily announced to each family the groceries would be complimentary and each family would also receive a $100 Lucky Supermarket gift card to use on their next visit.
“What I’ll never forget about today was when the mother [of the family] told me that it is such a relief to know that her daughter won’t have to worry about how she will eat this Thanksgiving,” said Foyle. “That’s what tells me the Warriors and Lucky [Supermarkets] are doing something special here today.”
As each of the Warriors walked with the families to their vehicles to load their car and share heartfelt goodbyes, one could sense the spirit of the holidays were realized.
“The Warriors and Lucky Supermarkets are thrilled to provide food security for these five families and to give them an experience that illustrates how much we as organizations and the community care about their well-being,” said Lucky Supermarket Public Affairs Director Alicia Rockwell.
This event is the first of the Warriors Plays for the Holidays community outreach initiative, as each Warriors player and coach will participate in at least one event this November and December to brighten the lives of local families and youth in the Bay Area. Jonathon Sims, a local minister and father of four daughters, was touched by the generosity the Warriors and Lucky Supermarket shared with his family.
“I cannot express the gratitude I have to Mr. Thompson, the Warriors organization, Lucky Supermarket and the West Contra Costa YMCA for giving my family the chance to have the first Thanksgiving together in a long time,” said Sims.
This event was also part of the NBA Cares Season of Giving campaign, where the NBA and its teams and players participate in hundreds of charitable events across the country in an effort to brighten the holidays for thousands of children and families.