UNM Offensive Line Uses NIL Funds to Provide Turkeys for Thanksgiving Giveaway

With the Thanksgiving season fast approaching, UNM players are uniting for a singular cause.

Lobo Offensive Line Turkey Donation / Johnny Tibbetts Graphic Illustration/UNM Athletics

The University of New Mexico Lobos have chosen a worthy cause to donate to this Thanksgiving season.

The Lobo O-Line, lead by @r_pearce77, is donating their NIL to help feed 100 families this Thanksgiving.

Now you can help as well. Through Friday, click this link to donate and add to the O-Line's NIL donations: https://t.co/Y6VSUkK0pb #505SVF | #GoLobos | #EarnedNotGiven pic.twitter.com/YI6T3Ihbde

— New Mexico Football (@UNMLoboFB) November 19, 2024

Richard Pearce, a Junior Offensive Lineman and Lobos team captain, started convincing his fellow linemen to donate their own NIL money to buy the community turkeys for a Thanksgiving giveaway. Starting on Sunday, Nov. 24, the team will begin distributing all turkeys and trimmings that were gathered, donated, and purchased by the team and the Albuquerque community.

At the beginning, the Lobos linemen had the goal of providing meals for 40-50 families within their community. However, the community had other plans. Once flyers spread about Pearce's cause, the community dove headfirst with the intention of providing enough for about 100 families.

The Lobos O-line will aim to feed as many families as they can.

The giveaway will be facilitated by the players that have contributed, as well as the community members that have made any sort of contribution.

Pearce gave his motivation and thoughts on the cause in a recent interview, detailing his own personal experience during holiday seasons in the past.

"Growing up, I was in a family that wasn’t as fortunate and I just always remembered me and my dad and my mom being able to go to a specific church or someone giving away turkeys or Thanksgiving dinners."

- Richard Pearce via KRQE News

With his recent NIL deals, Pearce is now able to initiate such worthy actions and carry out service that is near and dear to his heart. Pearce and his teammates are using their own funds from the NIL deals to carry out this great act. Pearce was previously playing for a different university without any sort of NIL deal, and he commented that he was grateful to be able to institute his ideas with the help of his NIL deals.

UNM's Offensive Line has been a major force on the field as well, as they have had a hand in UNM's offensive yardage totaling 5,330 yards on the season. As of Oct. 2, UNM was among one of the few teams left that had yet to allow a sack for the season. The New Mexico Lobos are currently sitting at No. 6 in the Mountain West with a conference record of 3-3.

With plenty of time before the Thanksgiving giveaway, community members and sports fans are still able to contribute to Pearce's cause through this donation link. Donations made before or on Friday, Nov. 22 will go directly towards purchasing even more turkeys for UNM's cause.