BUFFALO, N.Y. — For the first time, the Buffalo Bills Foundation and Buffalo Sabres Foundation are joining forces in a joint fundraising effort to help support hundreds of nonprofit organizations throughout Western New York that worked to keep the community afloat during the COVID pandemic.
'Give 716 Day' has one goal: to bring together Bills and Sabres fans, near and far, for a big day of giving.
Rich Jureller, President of the Buffalo Sabres Foundation, tells 2 On Your Side that the idea for 'Give 716 Day' or 'Give Buffalo Day' evolved from Giving Tuesday.
"We were really trying to find a way that we could be of more help," Jureller said. "We wanted to do something where we could use the brands of the two teams, the fan bases, marketing reach, social media reach to try and build something exciting."
Given the impact of the pandemic on the community, Jureller said the teams wanted to try and expand their reach in new and different ways to motivate people and inspire donors and sponsors to step up and help out.
"This community has such an incredible generosity to it, we've seen it with Bills Mafia," Jureller said. "We didn't want this to just be a Bills and Sabres thing. We've seen so many businesses step up and get involved, it's really inspiring and I think the charities are going to benefit greatly from it."
The American Heart Association and FeedMore WNY are two of 434 charities participating in this inaugural event.
Kristy Smorol is the communications director for the American Heart Association of New York State. She says that COVID dramatically impacted the way the AHA has serviced the community.
"Unfortunately, we've had to put a pause on the events we know and love, but we've managed to hold them differently and do things in a new way and open things up," Smorol said. "Donations are everything to us."
That goes for FeedMore WNY as well.
Anne McKenna is the Marketing Director at FeedMore WNY and tells 2 On Your Side, the need for donations and volunteers is on-going and has intensified due to the pandemic.
"Hunger doesn't discriminate. It's in the city, in the rural areas, in the suburbs. We see hunger in every zip code within our four county service area," McKenna said.
'Give 716 Day' runs until midnight on Friday, July 16th.
If you are interested in donating, head over to www.give716.org and follow the instructions below:
The first 2,000 people to donate $71.60 will receive a limited edition Bills and Sabres 'Give 716 Day' T-shirt as a special thank you.