TAMPA, Fla. -- With vehicles lining up nearby and Thanksgiving greetings being shared, Demar Dotson took in the spectacle before him with appreciation.
It was Tuesday night, about an hour into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' ninth annual "Turkey Time With the O-Line" event at One Buc Place. Ten members of the team's offensive line and coach Lovie Smith provided 750 families in need with items to cook a Thanksgiving meal.
"It's amazing, because every year I do it, you always get something out of it," said Dotson, a right tackle. "It brings a perspective to know how fortunate you are. And just being able to help somebody put something simple as a Thanksgiving meal on the table -- you start to realize how unfortunate a lot of people are. We take that for granted."
"Turkey Time With the O-Line" was launched in 2007 with former right guard Davin Joseph and former right tackle Jeremy Trueblood as the event's visionaries. When Trueblood left the Bucs after the 2012 season and Tampa Bay parted ways with Joseph after the 2013 campaign, Dotson continued the tradition with Joseph's blessing. More than 5,500 families have been provided Thanksgiving meals over the past nine years.
On this cool evening, two lines of vehicles that wrapped around the Bucs' facility began moving past players at 5:30 for the two-hour session. Each family received a pumpkin pie and two green shopping bags that included a 10- to 12-pound frozen turkey, corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans, plastic storage containers and a turkey baster. The linemen helped pay for all the supplies.
"We've got one!" center Joe Hawley said while directing traffic near a curb. "We've got one behind here! ... Happy Thanksgiving!"
"It's great just being able to give back to these families and kids who aren't able to have a Thanksgiving meal," left tackle Donovan Smith said. "So to be able to put food in their mouths and on the table is good."
Nathaniel Boyd of Tampa was one visitor who left happy. He approached the players with his daughter, Hannah, and walked away with the items necessary to make his family's Thanksgiving special.
"It's great what they're doing for everybody that actually needs help," Boyd said.
One woman in a black Dodge Dakota grinned and waved at Hawley and left guard Logan Mankins after receiving her supplies. Later, another woman driving a gray GMC Terrain glanced at right tackle Gosder Cherilus after collecting her items.
"Thank you very much," she said.
"No problem," Cherilus replied.
Dotson hopes similar scenes will happen for many more years. He said he'd like to see young players such as Donovan Smith and right guard Ali Marpet continue the tradition after he's gone.
"I know my time is getting short here," said Dotson, who is in his seventh season with the Bucs. "You just want to put in their ear that this is a tradition that means a lot to the community. It means a lot to the former players."
Late Tuesday, Joseph stood off to the side in a patch of grass and was thankful his vision continued to make a difference.
"It's great to see that, even when the O-line faces have changed, the attendance is still the same," said Joseph, now retired from the NFL. "And it's still good to see that you can put a smile on somebody's face on Thanksgiving week, no matter what their situation may be. It's crazy how far a turkey and a meal can go."