University of Tennessee Athletics
UT SAAC Assisting Louisiana Flood Victims
September 12, 2016 | General
By Chandler Frumin, SAAC
In August, a massive storm brought detrimental flooding to Louisiana. With some calling it the worst natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the heavy storms and flooding caused more than $8.7 billion worth of damage, destroyed more than 100,000 homes and caused many to lose their valued possessions. More than 80 percent of the damaged homes did not carry flood insurance. With such massive devastation, UT’s true Volunteer spirit kicked in as the school year began back on Rocky Top.
After sending a card to LSU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Tennessee SAAC representatives decided to go even further in showing support. Student-athletes donated more than 300 items, including school supplies, furniture, blankets and household cleaning supplies. Michele Christy, Tennessee’s SAAC president and a redshirt junior soccer player, knew that UT had to reach out in some way.
"It’s always devastating to hear about the destruction caused by natural disasters around the world,” Christy said. “But this incident hit extra hard when we found out about how it impacted our fellow SEC family. After the news broke about the damage at LSU, SAAC unanimously decided that we wanted to help any way we could. I was so amazed and impressed by the overwhelming response of UT student-athletes to donate to this cause."
Tennessee’s SAAC has established community service as one of its pillars during the 2016-17 school year. By focusing on helping others, SAAC hopes to benefit the community.
"Our SAAC officers did a great job of getting everyone together to help donate,” said Drew Kelley, a junior on UT’s cross country team. “It was also awesome to see all the teams and SAAC representatives work together so early in the year to help support the Flood Relief Drive.”
UT set up a Flood Relief Drive for Baton Rouge, allowing for students, faculty, staff and community members to help their SEC neighbors. The drive accepted many forms of donations including: monetary contributions through VOLstarter, nonperishable food items, virtual donations to LSU’s food bank through Amazon and many items such as tarps, cleaning supplies, shockwave (mold-killer), plastic storage containers, school supplies, rubber gloves, bottled water, toiletries, diapers, laundry detergent, bug spray, pillows, blankets and new bedding.
In addition to the primary on-campus donation center, auxiliary drop-off locations at Thornton Center, Frieson Black Cultural Center and Sorority Village made donating accessible to all. VOLstarter raised more $12,000 and exceeded its fundraising goal of $10,000 in just one week. All donations through VOLstarter are routed directly to the Louisiana Red Cross.
Since so many in Louisiana are still in need, UT will continue to collect VOLstarter donations through the middle of September.