Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Community support
Dolphins kick off their COVID-19 food drive, pledge to provide 1,000 meals a day for a year
The Miami Dolphins are doing their part to address food scarcity and job loss in the city that South Florida’s NFL franchise plans to call its permanent home in March of 2021.
On Monday, while hundreds of workers labored to build the team’s new Miami Gardens-based practice facility that is projected to open next spring, the franchise’s top three leaders — CEO Tom Garfinkel, coach Brian Flores and general manager Chris Grier — kicked off the team’s plans to distribute 1,000 meals a day for a year at Hard Rock Stadium.
The Miami Dolphins Food Relief Program will prepare and distribute the meals Monday-Friday to families in need through a voucher system.
On Sunday, the Relief Program will use local restaurants they have existing relationships with to distribute another 1,000 meals.
Before this venture, the Dolphins were using food trucks to feed children in impoverished communities throughout South Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s an honor to be here and to lend a hand to not only the people in South Florida, but really to people across the world,” Flores said shortly after placing a few dozen meals, which consisted of chicken breast, potatoes and string beans, into the trunks of vehicles driving into the pick-up stations.
“Leadership is about service,” he continued. “To have a platform and opportunity to serve the community and to serve players, coaches, my family, the children of South Florida, I don’t take that lightly.”
Dolphins owner Steve Ross and the organization have pledged $2 million to the food relief program, and hope to raise an additional $1 million from the South Florida community and Dolphins fans, who Ross has pledged to match, potentially bringing the full economic commitment to $4 million.
The donation website claims $111,551 has already been raised.
Vouchers for the meals are being distributed through local community groups and churches. Those interested in receiving a food voucher can email
community@dolphins.com.
“We’re just trying to make an impact and help people who need some support at this time,” Garfinkel said. “This was really Steve’s initiative, his idea.
“Steve said that race relations in our country are not good right now, unemployment is at an all-time high and now is the time to help people,” Garfinkel said. “We put together a program to help those who need food in our own backyard.”
Ross did not attend Monday’s news conference, but he’s annually contributed to the South Florida community though various ventures. The New York-based real estate mogul, who spent just under $240 million rebuilding the Dolphins roster this offseason, has pledged to donate half his wealth before he dies.
“We are committed to combating food insecurity and helping to provide consistent employment as the first step in rebuilding our community, starting in Miami Gardens,” Ross said in a statement.
Last week, Flores released the NFL’s first statement on the national brewing race issues and the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, three black Americans who died in 2020 at the hands of white police officers or vigilantes attempting to patrol their community.
Flores, who is black and of Hondurian decent, chose not to expound on his comments during Monday’s event. But he did encourage leaders to step forward and said community service will help “bring people together, and that will create change.”
Garfinkel said the deaths of Floyd and Arbery, which were both caught on video, is “unacceptable.”
“All those videos did was show us what’s been happening for a long, long time,” Garfinkel said. “Love, empathy and compassion is how we’re going to get through this … Until we get to a place were we have equality, and concepts like justice and truth are equal for everybody, that’s what we’re working toward and what everyone who is a reasonable person wants. We need to get through this together.”