Pacific Western Brewery has set aside 3,000 pounds of grain to feed the ducks at Cottonwood Island Park over the winter.
Long-time Ducks Unlimited members Brock Bailey and Paul Cailleaux, who have been providing feed to waterfowl in the area for the past five winters, will get access to the stores, the brewery said in a statement issued Wednesday.
"We will be storing the grain with our regular stock and taking what they need from it on an ongoing basis until natural food sources start to return for the ducks again," PWB brewmaster Kelly Olson said.
Olson approached Bailey and Cailleaux with the idea after hearing about their dedication to the cause.
“I heard what they were doing to help ensure the local ducks could survive our tough winters and thought it would be pretty great if PWB could step up to support them,” Olson said.
“One of our core company values is giving back, and we always have a significant supply of malted barley on hand here at the Brewery as it’s one of our key ingredients for making beer, so I reached out to Brock to see how we could help.”
Bailey and Cailleaux welcomed the contribution.
“We are very grateful for PWB’s willingness to support our work of feeding the ducks," Bailey said. "The grains they are giving us certainly won’t cover 100 per cent of what we need, but it will ensure that we are not left stranded without a regular supply to have the birds fed and taken care of."
Donations from the public to the effort are still welcome. They can be dropped off at Spruce Capital Feeds, 1694 Quinn St.
