TAMPA, FL – The Tampa Bay Lightning honored James Racky as the Lightning Community Hero this evening during the first period of tonight’s game against the Ottawa Senators. Racky, who received a $50,000 donation from the Lightning Foundation and the Lightning Community Hero program, presented by Jabil, will donate the money to Parrish United Methodist Church.
Racky lives by the adage, “an ordinary man, living an ordinary life, can do extraordinary things,” and he epitomizes this saying through all of the work he has done and continues to do for families in Manatee County. Racky began serving his community through 24 years of service at the Bradenton Police Department. Following his retirement from the Bradenton Police Department, he spent time with the Manatee County Sherrif’s Office. Over the past 17 years, he has also been committed to serving his community through Food Pantry Ministry at Parrish United Methodist Church. In this capacity, Racky coordinates with church leaders to orchestrate the distribution of necessities to families in need on a semi-monthly basis. As this programming has grown, especially through the COVID-19 pandemic, it has seen requests for assistance skyrocket. Thanks in large part to Racky, they have been able to revamp their food pantry services, meeting the increased need for support within the community.
The funds from tonight’s grant will be used to support Parrish United Methodist Church’s Food Ministry. This programming provides perishable and nonperishable foods and hygiene items to over 1,000 families each month. The funding will assist in the expansion of their programming, allowing them to add four Conex trailers to the church property that will be used for freezer, refrigerated and room-temperature food storage. Additionally, they will add a generator to ensure food in storage remains fresh in the event of a power outage.
Racky became the 586th Lightning Community Hero since Jeff and Penny Vinik introduced the Lightning Community Hero program in 2011-12 with a $10 million, five-season commitment to the Tampa Bay community. Through tonight’s game, in total, the Lightning Foundation has granted $31.67 million to nearly 750 unique nonprofits in the Greater Tampa Bay area. During the summer of 2021, the Viniks announced that the Community Hero program will give away another $10 million over the next five seasons.
