Feb. 11, 2010

The University of Tennessee Athletics Department has teamed up with the American Red Cross to raise funds for its Haitian relief efforts.

Members of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) will be on-hand to take donations for the Red Cross before the Lady Vols' 2 p.m. basketball game against Florida on Sunday, Feb. 14 as well as the Vols' match-up against Kentucky on Feb. 27 at noon.

"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. The student-athletes here have very generous hearts," said SAAC President and Lady Vol rower Mary Beth Dreusike. "I am so grateful to be in a position of leadership and power where I can make a difference for this devastated country."

Fans can also send a donation 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 benefit the American Red Cross' relief efforts in Haiti. To date, East Tennessee has raised and donated to the American Red Cross more than $120,000 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. Of them, 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 spanned 14 countries.