College of Staten Island baseball team helps the Atlas Foundation hand out turkeys for Thanksgiving

For Mike Mauro and his College of Staten Island baseball team, this is becoming a routine, and he wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Mauro and his players assisted the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation in distributing turkeys during the Foundation’s annual Turkey Giveway for the seventeenth year in a row.

Teddy Atlas, a member of the Boxing Hall of Fame, and his Foundation staff provide over 1,000 turkeys and sides to underprivileged families every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

This is where people from all around the Island come together and help the Foundation in some form.

And for nearly 20 years, the CSI baseball team has been a mainstay of this purpose.

We have been distributing 1100 turkeys and sides to Staten Island residents in need for the past 17 years, according to Mauro. As we met so many folks who will now have food on their table for Thanksgiving, I’m really pleased of my team for their kindness and love.

Mike Mauro, the head coach of CSI baseball, is pictured on the left with Teddy Atlas as he assists the Atlas Foundation in preparing for their yearly Turkey Giveaway. (Image provided by Mike Mauro.)Mauro, Mike

At 4 p.m. on Friday, the team began loading vehicles with thousands of pounds of turkeys and other trimmings. They continued sorting and distributing all the food at the Atlas headquarters in West Brighton at 7 a.m. on Saturday.

Players set up improvised assembly lines and delivered the items directly to the delivery trucks that were waiting.

The boxed turkeys and sides will be sent to the borough’s needy inhabitants, non-profit organizations, food pantries, parishes, and schools.

Although it’s all labor-intensive, Mauro and his team like working for Teddy Atlas, who has been providing aid to underprivileged Staten Islanders through his Foundation, which was established in memory of his late father.

“We at CSI are honored to be a part of Teddy’s mission; he is an incredible man,” Mauro remarked.

Two days prior to Saturday’s turkey giveaway, the Atlas Foundation hosted its 28th annual Teddy Dinner at the Hilton Garden Inn, which drew a large crowd of celebrities, athletes, and Islanders to show their support for the organization. The Atlas Foundation’s largest fundraiser is the dinner.

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