ALAMEDA — Donald Penn has always loved Thanksgiving.

“You’ve got to understand, I was a big kid growing up,” said Penn, the Raiders’ veteran left tackle. “Thanksgiving was always a good meal for me.”

When Penn was a rookie in Tampa Bay in 2006, his love of the holiday and desire to give back merged when he and fellow rookie offensive linemen David Joseph and Jeremy Trueblood came up with an idea.

“We were all trying to find a way where we could impact the community,” Penn said. “As an offensive line, you’re only as good as the next person. We thought about doing something as a group.”

Penn’s career was far from established at the time. He came into the league as an undrafted free agent and spent the first month of that season on the Minnesota Vikings practice squad before Tampa Bay signed him away.

But that didn’t stop Penn from joining forces with Joseph and Trueblood, first- and second-round picks respectively, to raise money to purchase Thanksgiving meals for needy families.

That became an annual tradition for the Buccaneers offensive line and one that continues in Tampa and that Penn brought with him to Oakland. The planning wasn’t there to get it off the ground his first season with the Raiders, but he’s done it the past two years.

So Tuesday night, an off day for the players after a taxing trip to Mexico City that had them landing back in Oakland around 5 a.m., Penn and the offensive line was there passing out Thanksgiving dinners for more than 250 families.

“Everybody donated some money and everybody took their time out to come out and do it,” Penn said. “The good thing was, when I asked the guys about it, there was no hesitation. Everybody was like, ‘Oh yeah, let’s do this for sure.’ It’s a good thing. I’m glad everybody was on board.”

Penn is quick to point out how blessed he’s been by his NFL career, which recently saw him make his 150th NFL start, the second-longest active streak among offensive linemen.

“I’ve been starting at the bottom, worked my way up,” Penn said. “I hope people look at it as an example. Don’t ever count yourself out. I was one of them low, low free agents, like a $5,000 signing bonus free agent, and I worked my way up. Hopefully guys coming up look at that and just take it as motivation.”