Tennessee Athletics Announces "Mountain Strong" Donation Drive
Tennessee Athletics, the University of Tennessee, and Pilot are coming together to collect donations for those affected by Hurricane Helene.
UT has partnered with Pilot to accept donations at the Pilot PSS Warehouse from Tuesday, October 15, through Thursday, October 17. The drop-off times are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
The donated supplies will be sent to the Northeast Tennessee Disaster Relief Center. The address is 4200 Middlebrook Farm Lane, Building #5, Knoxville, TN 37921.
UT Staff, students, and student-athletes can sign up for shifts through the Division of Student Life's Jones Center.
The following items are in critical need of donation:
- Tents
- Sleeping Bags
- New Blankets
- Hot Hands
- Medical Gloves
- Work Gloves
- Personal Hygiene Items (Deodorant, Shampoo, Condi\oner, Body Wash)
- Hand Soap
- Band-Aids
- Tylenol and Ibuprofen (Unopened and in date)
- Wet Wipes
- Multifunctional Scraper or Flathead Shovel
Pilot is also mobilizing its extensive network of travel centers to support communities affected by Hurricane Helene through an in-store round-up campaign* for the American Red Cross. From October 4 to October 18, 2024, guests can visit any U.S. owned and operated Pilot, Flying J and One9 travel center location to round up their purchase to the nearest dollar to provide aid to those affected by the hurricane. One hundred percent of funds raised will support Red Cross response efforts in impacted communities across the Southeast.
Tennessee Athletics and local bottler Coca-Cola Consolidated will begin the donation drive on Friday, October 11, delivering hundreds of cases of water to the Northeast Tennessee Disaster Relief Center.
Late last week, Tennessee Athletics announced that fans can now purchase t-shirts, hats, and stickers featuring the "Mountain Strong" helmet decal that the Tennessee football team will wear to honor those impacted by Hurricane Helene.
The "Mountain Strong" merchandise is available at the Vol Shop and Alumni Hall.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone impacted during this difficult time," said Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics Danny White. "We sincerely hope these initiatives will bring much-needed support and awareness to the affected communities."
The proceeds from all of the merchandise sales will go to charity.
*At participating locations. Pilot will donate 100% of round-up contributions to American Red Cross. Certain purchases not eligible for round-up. Void where prohibited.
Pilot Travel Centers LLC ("Pilot") is committed to showing people they matter at every turn as the leading energy and experience provider people rely on to fuel their journeys. Founded in 1958 and headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, Pilot is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and employs approximately 30,000 team members. As the largest network of travel centers, Pilot has more than 900 locations in 44 states and five Canadian provinces, serving an average of 1.2 million guests per day. In addition to travel center services, Pilot and its partners offer trucking fleets a variety of solutions for fuel, credit, factoring, maintenance and rewards. The company operates North America's third largest fuel tanker fleet and supplies approximately 12 billion gallons of fuel per year. Pilot is shaping the future of energy as one of the largest providers of biodiesel and renewable fuels and through the development of its EV charging network and low-carbon fueling alternatives. For additional information about Pilot, visit PilotCompany.com.