UT BLOG: Vols, Red Cross team up for Haiti

KNOXVILLE — Listed below is an important release from the University of Tennessee athletics department, and I thought I’d share it with you.

We’ve had better economic times in this country, for certain, but I think it’s safe to assume a vast majority of us haven’t dealt with anything quite as devastating as the current situation in Haiti.

Every little bit helps.

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The UT athletics department has teamed up with the American Red Cross to raise fund for their Haitian relief efforts.

Members of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) will be on-hand to take donations for the Red Cross before the Vols match-up against the Florida Gators on Sunday at 1 p.m., as well as the Lady Vols match-up against Florida on Thursday, Feb. 14 at 3 p.m.

“We at the University of Tennessee are so blessed, especially in the athletic department; it would be simply selfish of us not to step-in and help out wherever we are needed,” SAAC President and Lady Vol rower Mary Beth Dreusike said. “The student-athletes here have very generous hearts.”

Fans can also donate by texting ‘HAITI’ to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund. Donations will appear on customers’ monthly bills or be debited from a prepaid account balance, and standard message and data rates may apply.

All donations will benefit the American Red Cross’s relief efforts in Haiti. East Tennessee has already raised and donated more than $120,000 to the American Red Cross more in support of disaster relief efforts in Haiti.

The American Red Cross is working with its partners in the global Red Cross and Red Crescent network, including the Haitian Red Cross, and other partners to assist those affected by this disaster. More than 500 Red Cross and Red Crescent workers from at least 30 countries are in the country supporting thousands of local volunteers. More than 100 represent the American Red Cross, including a group of Creole interpreters on board the USNS Comfort. The Red Cross has committed $30 million to the World Food Programme, enabling them to feed up to one million people in Haiti for one month.

The relief operation in Haiti is already the largest single-country personnel deployment in global Red Cross history. The number of emergency response teams in or en route to Haiti equals those that responded to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami — a disaster that impacted 14 countries.

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Read Friday’s Times Free Press for more UT coverage.

Other contacts for Wes Rucker are www.twitter.com/wesrucker and www.facebook.com/tfpvolsbeat.