SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - The Thunderbirds game Friday night was not only a chance for fans to cheer on their favorite team, but also an opportunity to give back to the local community. The t-birds asked fans to bring a non-perishable food item to donate to the Mayflower Marathon, a food drive benefiting Springfield's Open Pantry. The donations will help families have a Thanksgiving meal. The Thunderbirds have been serving as a host site for donations throughout November and Friday night's game was a kickoff celebration for the event. "Just goes back to doing something good for our community and really giving what we have back to those who are less fortunate than us that our fans have really taken the ball and run with it over the last couple of years with this," said Manager of Community Relations for Thunderbirds, Ryan Smith.  To show appreciation for their generosity, the first 3,000 fans received a special goalie glove oven mitt from Performance Food Group. The Mayflower marathon runs from Monday, the 25th at 10am through Wednesday the 27th from outside the South End Market at MGM Springfield. Their goal is to fill as many trailers with non-perishable food donations as possible for The Open Pantry. Local News Headlines Local small businesses like Coopers gifts in Agawam celebrate ‘Pink Friday’ Thunderbirds fans give to Mayflower Marathon during Friday night’s game Martin Luther King Junior Family Services holds 2nd annual Holiday Tree Jubilee at the Greek Cultural Center in Springfield AMBER Alert canceled after three Massachusetts children found safely WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.