The Miami Heat held its 33rd Annual Thanksgiving Celebration in collaboration with the Caring Place at Miami Rescue Mission, which serves the homeless in South Florida.
Current and former players as well as coaches were working arm and arm with volunteers on Monday. They gave out 450 hot meals to shelter residents, and handed out 600 thanksgiving food baskets to families.
The families that received baskets were chosen by local governments and community organizations. The baskets included a whole turkey, sides and vouchers for free pizzas.
READ MORE: South Florida turkey giveaways and food assistance for Thanksgiving
Heat Captain Bam Adebayo was among those helping out. Adebayo manned the mashed potato station, and heaped helpings onto the plates of residents of the Miami Rescue Mission’s homeless shelter.
“I do this every year. I never get tired of doing this,” he said, “I come from a poor situation, so I understand what the shoes are like. I never had anybody from my community do this for me, so being able to do this is bigger than us.”
Head Coach Erik Spoelstra was handing out turkeys. He said his team has been looking forward to the opportunity to give back.
“We talked about it today at the start of practice. I said this is going to be a really transformational day. The new players thought I was just talking about practice,” he said. ”But we said we have something that's going to be even more impactful than whatever we did in practice."
He said that giving back to the community is a crucial part of “Heat Culture,” the organization's mantra that is often attributed as the reason the team often outperforms expectations on the court.
“It's based around competition, but it's more than that, it's deeper than that. It's also about sharing in our blessings, giving back to our communities,” Spoelstra said.
“You have to be about the action, and that's why I always enjoy this event because of our new players that come into our organization. They see first hand everybody that's been in our organization for so many years out here.”
One of those longtime members of the organization is NBA Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning. He spent 11 seasons with Miami and rejoined the organization after he retired in 2009. He took part in this event when he was a player back in the 1990s.
“I'm passionate about it. I show up because people showed up for me,” he said. “I'm a product of other people's contributions, and now I have an opportunity to bless others.”
