BY GWEN HAYES

Sentinel Editor

For more than 20 years. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Harry Hamilton has volunteered in the Tampa community.

Although he has not resided here since 1995, Hamilton, an attorney who resides in Pennsylvania, continues his c0mmitment and connection with Tampa.

Mrs. Carolyn Taylor, who has been at Hamilton’s side since the beginning, explained how it all got started.

“We (she and husband, the late Roe Taylor) had taken a group of youngsters to the football game as vendors and a few of them were trying to get out of hand. After the game, Roe was reprimanding them when Harry’s father (Dr. Stan Hamilton) passed by.

“They struck up a conversation about training our young people and from there a friendship developed.

“When Harry came out, (the Bucs’ locker room), his dad introduced him to Roe and me. Harry talked about wanting to do something to give back to the community in which he was a resident and that’s how ‘Project H’ was founded,” she explained.

The first year, Hamilton totally funded the event. The group provided the traditional Thanksgiving meal for 35 families with children.

Hamilton says his desire to give back started with his family and upbringing. “It doesn’t matter that I’m no longer there. These people helped me when I was there, if it was no more than to say encouraging words or extend well wishes.”[private]

This year the food baskets were distributed from General Assembly Church on Main St. in West Tampa, after being in East Tampa a number of years. Fifty families received food for Thanksgiving and more than 75 received Christmas baskets, many of them also received toys for the children.

At one point the volunteers distributed more than 250 boxes, but economic times limited donations. Mrs. Taylor says, “the Lord just multiplied that food. We planned to do 75 boxes, and went well over that.”

The RTJ Foundation, in memory of Roe Taylor, has partnered with Project H, and so did General Assembly Church.

Hamilton continues to recall those who have been with him through the years and may have gone on to other projects: former teammate, Mark Robinson, who does a similar project in Clearwater; volunteer Azzie Northern, who now has Azzie’s Angels, a similar organization. Robinson and another former teammate, Kevin Murphy, assist with the Project ‘H’ venture.

The projects in New York, Pennsylvania and Tampa are now done in memory of Harry’s father, who died about 2 years ago (“a couple months after Mr. Taylor’s accident”).

Hamilton is challenging former NFL players to “make a huge impact in whatever community they’re situated.[/private]