The Miami HEAT players and staff ring in the holiday season with numerous festive celebrations and outreach efforts. Programs include turkey giveaways at Thanksgiving, holiday hospital visits, holiday parties and toy drives for local charities.
With the largest Hispanic season ticket fan base in the NBA, the Miami HEAT Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration supported by Florida Blue and Bally Sports Sun, has engaged the Hispanic community for fourteen years with an annual HEAT Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration during the month of October. The event consists of a fun-filled day of festivities that includes interaction with HEAT Players, HEAT Dancers, the Hoop Troop and Burnie the mascot.
The Re-HEAT program, in partnership with Levy Restaurants and the Kaseya Center, distributes unserved food from all HEAT home games and concerts to homeless shelters in the South Florida area. Beneficiary organizations include the Miami Rescue Mission and Chapman Partnership. During all of our 2021-2022 events, we were able to donate about 7,770 pounds of unserved food to Camillus House, Miami Rescue Mission and the Chapman Partnership for an average of 86 pounds of food per game. Through the assistance of supporting partner Levy Cares, to date over 69,000 pounds of food have been distributed to Re-HEAT beneficiaries, the Miami Rescue Mission, Camillus House and Chapman Partnership.
HEAT Beach Sweep, presented by Amerant Bank, is an annual beach clean-up project and pro-conservation campaign aimed at preserving Miami's beaches and preventing beach erosion. The event serves as the annual “Green Initiative” for the HEAT and leverages the combined weight of the league, teams, players and partners to generate awareness and raise funds in support of environmental protection. HEAT Beach Sweep has grown to encompass all HEAT Group GREEN efforts in the community that revolve around generating awareness for the protection and sustainability of the environment. Groups of volunteers from The HEAT Group work in conjunction with Florida International University College of Arts, Sciences & Education to complete a variety of activities.
Random Acts of HEAT is a series of good deeds in the South Florida community meant to inspire individuals, families, organizations and communities to reciprocate kindness through random acts of their own.
The Kaseya Center, which celebrated it's 15th anniversary year in 2015, continues to blaze a trail for best practices and industry firsts.
As part of Green Week in April 2009, the Kaseya Center announced that it was awarded LEED Certification for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).The Kaseya Center was one of the first two venues in the country to receive this prestigious designation by the USGBC. In January 2015, the Kaseya CenterKaseya Center was awarded LEED Gold recertification by the USGBC, becoming the first venue in the world to receive LEED Gold recertification.
LEED is the USGBC's leading rating system for designing and constructing the world's greenest, most energy-efficient, and high performing buildings.
This program is part of the team's on-going commitment to support U.S. servicemen and servicewomen at home and abroad through the Home Strong Initiative, and in conjunction with the NBA Hoops for Troops program.
As long-time supporters of the LGBTQ community, the HEAT and the Kaseya Center remain steadfastly committed to embracing the diversity that makes Miami a unique and special city.
In conjunction with the Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation, and Open Spaces Department - Therapeutic Recreation & Inclusion, the Miami HEAT offers support for the Miami HEAT Wheels, an adult wheelchair basketball team wherein players encourage and demonstrate how those with disabilities lead active and productive lives. The Miami HEAT Wheels is a competitive wheelchair basketball team in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA). The Miami HEAT Wheels compete at the Division I level in the Florida Wheelchair Basketball Conference. The adult wheelchair basketball team competes in regional and national tournaments associated with the NWBA. On April 19, 2015, the Miami HEAT Wheels won their very first championship title in Division III of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. For additional information on the team please contact the Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department, Therapeutic Recreation & Inclusion Division at 305-755-7848