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Meals of Joy now reserving ducks for annual Duck Derby

Posted 6/1/20

Meals of Joy, a Litchfield Park-based nonprofit meal delivery service for West Valley seniors in need, will hold its third annual Duck Derby rubber duck race for Thursday, July 2 and participants can …

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Meals of Joy now reserving ducks for annual Duck Derby

Posted

Meals of Joy, a Litchfield Park-based nonprofit meal delivery service for West Valley seniors in need, is going virtual with its third annual Duck Derby rubber duck race in July, and participants can begin reserving their ducks now.

In the past, the derby has been hosted live at North Lake at Estrella Mountain Ranch, with about 7,000 attendees cheering on their favorite ducks. Due to COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, this year's race will be held virtually, with no public attendance due to social distancing restrictions.

The community is invited to watch a prerecorded video of the race on the Meals of Joy Facebook page, facebook.com/mealsofjoyaz, on Thursday, July 2 to see which of the 4,000 ducks come up winners.

Derby participants have several options for purchasing ducks, with proceeds from the fundraiser supporting the organization’s mission to deliver a fresh, hot meal to senior. With the COVID-19 crisis, the organization is serving about 700 meals weekly, 3 1/2 times its regular amount. Deliveries are made five days a week.

Minimum purchase is a Duck Duo of two ducks for $10. Also available are a Six Quack of six ducks for $25, a Flying V of nine ducks for $50 and a Full Flock of 20 ducks for $80. Ducks may be purchased through the organization’s Duck Derby GoFundMe page, https://rebrand.ly/DuckDerbyAZ.

The first duck across the finish line will win that tickeholder $1,000, with second place winning $750 and third place winning $500.

Those who don’t want to purchase their own duck can still participate by clicking the “Donate Only” button on the site and choosing either general donation to support the race or scrolling through the various duck teams that have been created by Meals of Joy supporters to help them reach their fundraising goal for the event.

“Either way, your contribution puts Meals of Joy one click closer to reaching our event goal of $20,000.” the release stated.

Those who want to join a duck team or start their own can do so by clicking on “Team Duck” to create a fundraising page (individual or team options available) or to join an existing team. For help creating a team, email event manager Chance Bogart, at chancbeogart02@gmail.com.

Meals of Joy was founded by former restaurateur Larry Cervarich after he moved to Goodyear in 2014, and has been delivering meals to West Valley seniors since 2015. For information on the organization, its events and programs, visit mealsofjoy.org.

Seniors interested in signing up for meal service may call 623-594-9588 or email info@scosic.org for an application menus and order forms. Delivery areas include Avondale, Buckeye, Glendale, Goodyear, Litchfield Park, Peoria, Sun City, Sun City West and Surprise. Seniors in Glendale and Peoria are asked to call the office before filling out the form as deliveries to those communities vary, according to the organization’s website.