Temple provides Thanksgiving meals for homeless and hospice patients

It's become a tradition — Temple football players taking time out of their days to deliver Thanksgiving meals to those in need.

For the past two weeks, Owl players, coaches and staff have collected canned food for homeless through the Bethesda Project and on Thursday coach Steve Addazio, his wife Kathy, Betty Rogers (wife of coach Kevin Rogers), freshman LB Rob Dvoracek, senior WR C.J. Hammond, freshman LB Michael Kalaman, freshman Stephaun Marshall, redshirt freshman PK Tyler Mayes, freshman Bret Niederreither, sophomore WR Brett Pierce, senior LB Ahkeem Smith and senior OL Martin Wallace delivered those goods to families in need.

"Through the collective efforts of our student-athletes, managers, trainers, coaches, and all of the employees of Edberg-Olson Hall, Temple football proudly delivered food to both the Bethesda Project and St. John's Hospice here in our community," Addazio said. "We are inspired by the impact that our student-athletes are having in the community. We are hopeful that the collective efforts of our football program will bring both nourishment and joy to more than 300 people this Thanksgiving season here in the City of Philadelphia."

The group also stopped by St. John's Hospice to provide 30 turkey dinners, which included a 10-12-pound turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, gravy, and pumpkin pie, to the facility. The meals were provided through monetary donations, including players donating their per diem.

Temple football has been doing the canned food drive for the past six seasons. It was an initiative that started under former coach Al Golden and has continued under Addazio. Temple is one of the few FBS schools located in the middle of a major metropolitan city. It's nice to see the players give back and embrace their location.

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