University of Tennessee Athletics
UT Student-Athletes Deliver 'Touchdown for Turkeys'
December 14, 2007 | Football
Members of the University of Tennessee football team were on-hand today to deliver 371 turkeys to Second Harvest Food Bank as part of the ???Touchdown for Turkeys??? project.?? This was the largest turkey distribution since the promotion started in 2004.
During the 2007 football season, UT, Food City and Butterball teamed up for ???Touchdown for Turkeys.????? For each touchdown scored at a UT football game (home and away), seven butterball turkeys have been donated to Second Harvest compliments of Food City and Butterball.?? Tennessee's football team exploded for 53 touchdowns in 2007, representing the most touchdowns scored by the Vols since the 1998 season.
???This is a great opportunity for these organizations to join efforts in order to bring food to those in need,??? said Tom Hembree, president of Food City. ???We are glad that Food City is able to support this project.???
America???s Second Harvest is the nation???s largest charitable hunger-relief organization. Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee services an 18-county area, distributing food to roughly 125,000 hungry people every month.?? Agencies are non-profit organizations dedicated to feeding the hungry and include church pantries, shelters, group homes, local kitchens, after-school program sites, rehabilitation centers and many others.???? Last year Second Harvest distributed enough food, through these agencies, to provide 7,865,000 meals to hungry Tennesseans.
"The ???Touchdown for Turkeys??? event is an outstanding program that we are proud to be a part of. It is an honor to be involved and we are grateful to Food City, Butterball and the University of Tennessee for allowing us to be a part of the happening,??? said Elaine Machiela, executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank.?? ???This is a time of year of great need for many hungry, local needy families and they will be grateful for the turkeys to help with their holiday dinner.?????
Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee started in 1982.?? During the first year of operation, Second Harvest (then called SHARE), distributed approximately 120,000 pounds of food to less than 30 human service agencies in Knox County.?? This year Second Harvest will distribute 11,500,000 pounds of food to more than 350 non-profit agencies that serve the hungry.
