Community
HEAT Social Responsibility: Health & Wellness
As a basketball team, we are in the business of promoting physical activity, fitness and well-being. In recent years, we've expanded our focus to include mental health and wellness.
Mindfulness Champions Initiative
The importance of mental health, eliminating the stigma surrounding it and providing the education to achieve a more resilient and healthier state of mind has never been a greater need in our society than it is today underscored by the recent pandemic and the affect that will remain with us long term. In an effort to address some of these needs as students and teachers return to school after an extended period of isolation and to further challenge other entities in our community to help join the effort and meet the mental health needs of those living in South Florida and beyond, the Miami HEAT alongside Florida Blue have underwritten the costs of a unique program in collaboration with Miami-Dade County Public Schools - the Miami HEAT Mindfulness Champions Initiative (MCI). Since the inception of the program, MCI has trained a total of 917 teachers in mindfulness and mental health education. The goal is to have one champion at select public high schools throughout the school district each year, so they can in turn educate students and other faculty at their respective schools.
HEAT Mindfulness Sanctuary
In its ongoing effort to support mental health advocacy, the Miami HEAT, along with Florida Blue, will team up to create a HEAT Mindfulness Sanctuary in areas of need across South Florida. These sanctuaries will serve as a safe space where students and adults can mitigate the effects of stress in a calm and welcoming environment. These rooms will be outfitted with amenities and other resources that will mainly contribute to their overall mental wellness.
In March 2025, The HEAT established its third Mindfulness Sanctuary at G. Holmes Braddock Senior High School in Kendall.
HEAT Thanksgiving Celebration
The annual HEAT Thanksgiving Celebration brings the entire HEAT Group together for a memorable day of giving. This event consists of a block-party to help distribute approximately 600 thanksgiving baskets to underserved families and provide hot meals to 450 residents of the Miami Rescue Mission, an organization that provides various services to the homeless and those in need throughout Miami-Dade County. Families are pre-selected by different local government and community-based organizations to receive an entire Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings from the HEAT, courtesy of Florida Blue, the state's Blue Cross Blue Shield Plan.
