KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The Knoxville Smokies are stepping up to the plate off the field by teaming up with Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee to help fight hunger.
Players and staff spent Tuesday morning volunteering as they get ready to launch a food drive this week. They collected and sorted donations.
Fans can pitch in by bringing non-perishable items to the home stand this week with games on Tuesday, Wednesday. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There will be barrels and boxes collecting donations at every entry point.
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“There are a lot of folks, our East Tennessee neighbors, who are food insecure. There are more than 213,000 of them, to be exact. Every single month, we’re providing meals and food for nearly 200,000 of those folks. Fortunately, thanks to efforts such as the food drives that are going on, the volunteer work that’s being done here, it’s about 30,000 hours a year. Volunteers make that happen and that saves us a lot of money and keeps our trucks on the road,” said Michael Toronto, chief marketing officer for Second Harvest.
The team’s recent move to Knoxville also helped them have more opportunities to help since they are closer to a lot of different businesses…