Jerry Jones and his storied football franchise, the Dallas Cowboys, are giving to the needy through the Salvation Army over the holidays, and hoping the team gets going in its traditional Thanksgiving Day game.
"Well it's called a 'W,' we want to win the football game," Jones said to Cheddar about the holiday contest with a laugh. "We're sitting in the end zone here at AT&T Stadium, and those red kettles really are going to be just a few feet away. And we've been practicing on it, and when we score, we want those guys over in that kettle."
The iconic red kettles, smaller than the ones that will be featured in Thursday's game, are utilized by the Salvation Army, the Christian church and charitable organization, to collect donations. They can often be seen accompanied by bell-ringing volunteers in public spaces from early November through Christmas Eve.
"I think of the most efficient way to take a dollar and have it immediately go to shoes for somebody that has none, go to food when they don't have anything to eat," Jones said. "The Salvation Army is how to do that through the red kettle, right there without any in-between. It is the efficiency which is really something you look at with football as well."
The red kettle received a windfall gift from what was, at first, a negative incident for the NFL team, when superstar running back Ezekiel Elliott held out for a bigger contract. Owner Jerry Jones dismissed the player with the remark "Zeke Who?" at the time during the acrimonious dispute.
"In 2016 we watched Zeke jump into the kettle and just a few months when we re-signed Zeke ... and we held up 'Zeke Who?' t-shirts, we sold all of those and the $150,000 that was raised, all of it went to the Salvation Army," said Charlotte Jones Anderson, executive vice president and chief brand officer for the Dallas Cowboys. "We hope to see what he does tomorrow."
The 8-3 Buffalo Bills will be taking on the 6-5 Cowboys at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.
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