Warriors Throw Party to Bag 20,000 Lunches for Hungry People

The Golden State Warriors threw an elaborate party for team’s season ticket holders Monday where they just happened to bag 20,000 lunches for hungry people. Most of the Warriors championship roster was expected to stop by Monday’s “Season of Giving” event at the Oakland Marriott City Center,
including reigning league MVP Stephen Curry, All-Star Klay Thompson and NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala.

Season ticket holders were invited to help bag lunches and for their efforts were treated to photo opportunities with the players and the team’s championship trophy, question-and-answer sessions with Thompson and Curry, a full bar and a hot dog lunch.

“That’s what’s great about this organization, we do it right,” Thompson said during the question-and-answer session. “Not just on the court but in the community.” Thompson has been involved in numerous charity initiatives in his four-year career with the Warriors, including donating $20,000 for Thanksgiving dinners in Oakland last year and helping bag 1,000 lunches at a similar event in January.

The lunches are distributed as part of the #HashtagLunchbag initiative through area food banks and homeless outreach organizations. Thompson and Curry both stressed that they feel like the Bay Area is their home now and want to make sure they give back to the area.

“There’s a lot of great people in the city of Oakland. This is my home now. It’s home for a lot of us,” Thompson said. Curry has his own charity outreach events, including his “Three-for-Three” campaign that sends three mosquito nets to areas plagued by malaria for every three-point shot he hits. Since starting the campaign, Curry has twice set a record for most three-pointers in a season.

The Warriors have been frequently exceeding expectations, following up their championship season by starting this year’s campaign with 24 straight wins before finally falling to the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night.

Asked if he knew why the Warriors lost Saturday, Curry smiled and said, “We’re tired.” Thompson said there was little talk in the team’s locker room of the historic nature of their season-opening winning streak — shattering the previous best start of 15-0 set by the 1948-49 Washington Capitols and tied by the 1993-94 Houston Rockets — except once when interim head coach Luke Walton brought it up after their 13th win.

Walton told them they “might as well go do something that hasn’t been done before,” Thompson said. It’s something that probably won’t be done again for a long time, “unless we do it again next year,” he said. Children dressed in Curry’s jersey gathered around the stage before he spoke and reached up for his autograph when he was finished.

When called an inspiration to fans, particularly aspiring NBA players who may not tower over their competition, the 6-foot 3-inch Curry said, “It makes me feel special.” “You are special,” many in the crowd called back to him. The team’s success has only made him work harder, he said, spending his off-season improving his ball-handling and shooting skills. And it shows, Curry is in the midst of what might be his best season yet. It just shows the resilience of this Warriors team, Curry said. “No matter what the situation is we always rise to the occasion.”

Cleanup Expected to be Completed Midday After Spilled Container Washed Ashore on Baker Beach

A second container thought to have fallen off a ship during stormy weather on Friday just outside the Golden Gate has washed ashore in Pacifica, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said Monday afternoon.
The container was reported at a relatively inaccessible location on Mori Point at the southern end of Pacifica, police Capt. Joe Spanheimer said Monday. Coast Guard Lt. Jake Urrutia said the sighting has been confirmed Monday by a Coast Guard auxiliary member following multiple reports from the public on Sunday.

The Coast Guard has notified the Oakland-based shipping firm Matson Navigation Co., which will be responsible for the cleanup. The 40-foot container is one of 12 that fell off the Seattle-bound container ship Manoa late Friday, according to the Coast Guard.

A second container carrying a large number of plastic trays that had held loaves of bread and other packaging materials also washed ashore at San Francisco’s Baker Beach on Saturday. Matson has hired Parker Diving Service to remove the large container at Baker Beach and other debris, Coast Guard officials said.

\Matson spokesman Keoni Wagner said the Manoa had departed Oakland en route to Seattle and was just outside San Francisco Bay around 10:30 p.m. when the accident occurred. The ship was making a maneuver to allow a San Francisco Bay pilot to disembark when it was hit broadside by a large wave, Wagner said. The wave knocked the dozen mostly empty containers over the side.

“I’m told it was a stormy night out there, high seas and high winds, and so that added to the situation,” Wagner said. Wagner described the loss of shipping containers as relatively uncommon and said the company is still investigating exactly how it happened. The majority of the containers are thought to have sunk, he said.

Cleanup crews were out at Baker Beach Monday working to remove the container there, as well as plastic trays and styrofoam debris, National Park Service spokeswoman Adrienne Freeman said.
Freeman said the large container had broken up on the rocks into large pieces and work crews were working to retrieve the pieces.

The beach’s parking area was closed to accommodate the work crews but beachgoers were still being allowed to walk on the beach as long as they stayed out of the way, Freeman said. There were no hazardous materials in the container or packing crates, but Coast Guard officials are warning people on the water in the area to be on the lookout for debris.

The removal of the shipping container was expected to be completed Monday, but more debris could wash up over the course of the next few days, making the cleanup an ongoing effort, Freeman said. Anyone who finds a container on the beach is asked to be cautious and call the Coast Guard Sector San Francisco command center at (415) 399-7300.

Weather

Today will be sunny with highs in the mid-50s. North winds could reach 15 to 20 miles per hour.Tonight will be mostly clear with lows in the mid-40s. North winds are expected to range from 5 to 10 miles per hour and then turn east after midnight. Wednesday will be partly cloudy with highs in the mid-50s. Winds will blow southeast, then northwest, at 5 to 10 north per hour.

(News provided by Bay City News.)