32nd Annual HEAT Thanksgiving Celebration

The Miami HEAT hosted its 32nd Annual HEAT Thanksgiving Celebration, presented by Florida Blue at the Miami Rescue Mission. The HEAT Group, in collaboration with the Caring Place @ Miami Rescue Mission, Inc., tipped-off the Thanksgiving holiday with 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 were pre-selected by local government and community-based organizations to receive an entire Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings from the HEAT, courtesy of Florida Blue. Publix and Florida Blue provided frozen turkeys, while canned goods, side items, and beverages were donated by Ryan Tax, Goya Foods, Bally Sports, One Sotheby’s International Realty, and Pepsi.

In addition, Papa John’s Pizza also provided free pizza vouchers, Takis and Café Bustelo were also on hand to share samples with guests in attendance, and Levy Cares, the charitable foundation of Levy Restaurants and the catering division of the Kaseya Center, provided hot meals to the residents of the Miami Rescue Mission.

This year's celebration continued to broaden its impact beyond the Overtown/Wynwood area, reaching communities in need, such as Little Havana, Little Haiti, Liberty City, Kendall, Homestead, and as far north as Lauderdale Lakes. Additional beneficiaries include Feeding South Florida, Curley’s House of Style Hope Relief Food Bank, SafeSpace, Salvation Army, Amigos for Kids, The Migrant Education Program at Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Volunteers of America, and many more.

This year’s event also fell during the following calendar weeks: