At the second annual Turkey Time event, the Bucs' offensive line helped out 600 local families
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Turkey Time with the O-Line
Nov 26, 2008 - The weather turning chilly as fall turns into winter, leaves beginning to fall off the trees, a gathering of family and friends, a large Thanksgiving meal and football on the TV – some things just go together.
While the weather in Tampa wasn’t all that frigid Tuesday evening and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play on Sunday rather than on Thanksgiving Day, members of the Buccaneers’ offensive line did their best to provide many of the other typical fall festivities to some less-fortunate Bay Area families. It was all part of the second-annual "Turkey Time with the O-Line" event at One Buccaneer Place.
Roughly 600 families filed through the parking lot of the Buccaneers’ training facility in their cars early Tuesday evening. The Bucs' offensive linemen were joined by the team's cheerleaders, mascot Captain Fear and a group of operations staff in handing out Thanksgiving meals while holiday music played through speakers in the background.
Through 22 local agencies, the Bucs and United Way selected these families that received vouchers to come by and pick up their Thanksgiving dinners and meet some of their favorite Bucs players. Publix Supermarkets helped supply the turkeys, vegetables, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls and other staples of a good Thanksgiving meal, while the Bucs’ offensive linemen actually picked up the tab for the goods.
As car after car rolled past, each suddenly full of delicious food, there were wide smiles and brightened holiday spirits, and shouts of “Happy Thanksgiving” rang out frequently as the families exited the parking lot.
But as rewarding as the event was for the needy families, it was equally so for the Bucs themselves and everyone else involved with putting on the program.
“Everything went well,” said guard Davin Joseph. “Everything went as planned. A lot of families showed up today, a lot of the guys participated as handing out turkeys, and really the whole organization came out and got involved, so it was really exciting. It makes us want to do more.”
Added tackle Jeremy Trueblood: “It’s a great cause and everyone deserves to have a happy Thanksgiving. It’s a time to get around the dinner table with all your closest friends and family and celebrate good times. Any way we can help, in any way, shape or form, is great. It feels real good and I hope everyone enjoys it.”
Timothy Gibson of Pinellas County was on hand with his family to pick up a Thanksgiving dinner, and as a lifelong Bucs fan, he was blown away by the generosity of his favorite team.
“It was awesome,” Gibson said. “Everything they do out here is awesome. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world today. I don’t know what to say, it’s awesome. It’s my favorite team and they’re giving me a Thanksgiving dinner, so my family is happy.
“It’s one of the best Thanksgivings. It’s going to be very memorable. I’m from Cleveland and my dad is a Cleveland fan, but I’ve been following the Bucs since I was a kid and this is phenomenal. I’m ecstatic about it. Just the fact that the Bucs are doing this is awesome and the fact that I get to come out here and be a part of it is even better. To see Trueblood a minute ago was just awesome, the whole experience.”
The Bucs have always placed a high priority on giving back to the community, but the holiday season makes that emphasis even more important. Giving back to less fortunate families during such a special time of the year only makes things that much more memorable.
“Times are tough right now and we realize that our customers and people within the community are really feeling the crunch of the economy,” said Shannon Patten, the media and community relations manager for Publix. “So anytime we can get together and we can do what’s right, we want to be there. This is a perfect opportunity. Everybody is so excited, the atmosphere is electrifying, it’s what the holidays are all about.”
Added Miray Holmes, the Bucs’ director of community relations: “This is a hard time of year for people. Especially at Thanksgiving time, we really want to show that the Buccaneers care about our families in the community. We really wanted to find a way that we could reach out to them and give them something that they could really use and enjoy with their families and friends.
“This makes the holiday season a lot brighter,” Gibson said. “I’m unemployed right now, working part-time, and it’s been hard on my family. This just takes a load off for the holidays for sure. It definitely helps out this week.”
And for the Bucs’ offensive linemen, whose loves of football and Thanksgiving have been intertwined since they were youngsters, handing out turkeys as the NFL playoff races heat up made perfect sense.
“Ah, Thanksgiving…” Joseph reminisced. “It’s about sitting at home with mom and dad and the family, brothers and sisters, and now becoming an adult, being around your kids and your loved ones and now being able to give back, it means a lot more than it used to when I was growing up.
“It’s the meat of the football season, the weather’s starting to change, the football is getting better and it’s an exciting time of the year. November is always a good month.”
Added Trueblood: “For me personally, it was one of my favorite holidays as a child. You don’t have to be a football fan to enjoy Thanksgiving, but if you are, it makes it that much better. With football on all day, getting around with family and my grandma making a meal, we’d watch football and we’d all have a great time. I think everyone deserves a good meal and it’s a great time for great families and great people. As long as I can help anyone else do that, I feel great about it.”