MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- While Wisconsin shivered under subzero cold conditions over the weekend, much of the rest of the country, from the southwest to the northeast, got hammered with a massive winter storm.  The storm produced heavy snow and dangerous ice, causing thousands of flights to be cancelled. One of the flights impacted was from Dallas as the Mavericks were headed to Fiserv Forum to take on the Milwaukee Bucks. But they couldn't make it off the tarmac, causing the game to be postponed.

Though the Bucks didn't actually play Sunday night, the Sojourner Family Peace Center says they still won, thanks to a generous donation from the team. As the game was postponed, quickly, the food prepared for thousands of fans was packed up and taken out to our community.

"It's not too often that an NBA basketball game gets postponed or canceled, so we're not too accustomed to that," shared Arvind Gopalratnam, Senior Vice President of corporate social responsibility for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Though there were empty seats, there weren't going to be empty stomachs: "we immediately started talking about the food in the building, to what was being prepared, to what we could do with it," he continued. 

Gopalratnam figured out a way to put it to good use, contacting Hunger Task Force, warming shelters, and the Sojourner Family Peace Center. "He asked if we had a need and of course the answer was yes!" exclaimed Cherie Swenson, Vice President & Chief Development Officer for the Sojourner Family Peace Center.

She was able to pick of a menu approximately 75 pounds of food to feed over 60 people, for two days. As a Wisconsinite, Swenson said she was drawn immediately to mac & cheese and other "hearty good food for a cold day" like pasta pesto, chicken patties, hot dogs, corn, and more. "The best part of the night for me at last was a young man- middle school age -was digging into mac & cheese just like I envisioned he would, with pure joy," she shared.

It's an impact that lasted more than one meal, said Swenson, "donations of food are critical from a budgetary standpoint, helping us spread our dollars a little further when we purchase items for meals we serve. It was such a great surprise."  The Sojourner Family Peace Center accepts food donations year-round, so if you are interested, Swenson recommends you reach out to them by email at [email protected].

"If we can make that kind of impact off the court when our games are being canceled or postponed, we're incredibly proud of that effort." said Gopalratnam. He said it's "part of our DNA. It's part of our belief that we are a community organization, and we are always going to be thinking of our fans in the community that way," going on to say that the Bucks have been able to provide hundreds and nearly thousands of pounds of food so far this year.

The rescheduled game between the Bucks and the Mavericks has not been set yet.

The last time the Bucks had a game postponed was almost a year to the day, Jan. 22 in New Orleans, because of weather down South. Then, the game the following day in Milwaukee against the Miami Heat was delayed an hour because of flight delays coming from New Orleans. Before that, Gopalratnam there hadn't been any postponements or cancellations since the pandemic.