Staff Writer
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA —
If you haven’t already adopted a duck, these are the final days to do so. For five bucks a duck, participants in Second Harvest of South Georgia’s annual Derby Duck Race can help feed the region’s hungry and possibly walk away as a winner.
A $5 donation for one duck will feed one child a hot meal each evening for one week through America’s Second Harvest’s Kids Cafe programs. Two ducks provide a 55-pound bag of food for a family of four. Five ducks ensure a senior citizen has a hot meal each day for a week, and 10 ducks equal a week of milk for 100 children.
With pay-offs like this, the duck race fills thousands of hungry bellies each year.
This year, the duck adoptions have been moving a bit slower. Last week, less than 3,000 of the available 10,000 ducks had been adopted. The fewer ducks that are adopted means the fewer stomachs which Second Harvest will be able to fill in the coming year.
If helping your fellow South Georgians isn’t incentive enough, each participant has the opportunity to win prizes.
In addition to the winning satisfaction of helping others, the event also offers a bevy of top-notch prizes.
The prizes include the possibility of a mega prize of $1 million, courtesy of First State Bank & Trust; a first prize of a $3,000 shopping spree at Steel’s Jewelry; a second prize of a seven-day Carnival Cruise Lines trip for two, courtesy of Executive Travel; a third prize of a quail hunt for four at Lenox River Ranch; a fourth prize of Sunset Farms for a year; a fifth prize of Starbucks for a year; a sixth prize of $1,000 cash; a seventh prize of four Wild Adventures passes and a stay at the Holiday Inn; an eighth prize of a Super Suds Car Wash package; a ninth prize of Chick-Fil-A for a year and a Pepsi tailgate package; tenth prize of Brusters ice cream for a year, a portrait setting with Wes Sewell Photography, a gift certificate from Classic Art and Frame.
Again, even if you don’t win one of these great prizes, everyone’s a winner when you adopt a duck. So, don’t duck helping the region’s hungry, adopt a duck for Second Harvest.
Second Harvest of South Georgia’s Annual Derby Duck Race
When: The race takes place 11 a.m., April 21.
Where: Splash Island, Wild Adventures.
Donations: $5, single duck; $20, Quack Pack (five ducks for the price of four); $50, 12 Pack (a dozen ducks for the price of 10); $100, Super Quacker Pack (25 ducks for the price of 20); $400, Mega Duck Pack (100 ducks for the price of 80); $1,000, Corporate Duck; $10,000, Pirate Duck (call Frank Richards, food bank’s executive director, for details, (888) 453-4143.)
More information, rules, etc.: Visit www.duckrace.com/southgeorgia; or call (888) 453-4143.