KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — As East Tennessee enters its second week of recovery after Hurricane Helene, Bristol Motor Speedway has joined the recovery effort.
The Speedway has loaned an 80,000-square-foot warehouse, usually used as an event space, to the state government to house donated relief supplies. the new location is called the Northeast Tennessee Disaster Relief Center. It's operated by TEMA and staffed by volunteers, staff from first responder agencies from across Tennessee and the National Guard.
Jerry Caldwell, the general manager of Bristol Motor Speedway, said the decision was easy to make.
"Our house is their house, and this is happening to all of our friends and neighbors and loved ones and we’re here to stand with them," Caldwell said.
Caldwell said discussions about using the warehouse for relief efforts began last Saturday, immediately after Helene. He and others at Bristol spoke with Governor Bill Lee's office, which he said was receptive to the idea. The center started accepting donations on Thursday.
Kendra Loney, the center's public information officer, said the center intends to centralize aid distribution, creating a single location where county governments, first responders and individuals can find supplies in bulk.
"This is literally to prevent a backlog of donations, from something getting dropped off, a place that doesn’t have the capacity to store it for a long time, or for a community getting overwhelmed with donations," Loney said.
Loney's regular job is working as a public information officer for the Nashville Fire Department. She said she was assigned to the center, joining others from the department deployed to East Tennessee and western North Carolina.
A graduate of UTK, she said she knew she'd help in East Tennessee's relief effort somewhere; she just wasn't sure of the exact location.
She said several of the staff come from affected areas like Unicoi County. The broader motor speedway complex is being used to temporarily house some refugees from heavily affected counties, as well as teams of first responders who continue search and rescue missions.
For volunteer Sarah Lilly, a program manager in the healthcare industry who lives in Virginia, working at the center was a chance to use her skillset when she arrived on Wednesday.
“We had no call center for people to call in to get supplies, so within a couple of hours, with a group of volunteers, we were able to make a Google form and get a call center set up and sent out to the media," Lilly said.
The center's leaders said the steady flow of donations and eager volunteers from diverse backgrounds has inspired confidence in the operation.
However, the center is dependent on donations, so supplies have ebbed and flowed, they said.
They said the center will be open for as long as it's needed. Anyone interested in learning more or in need of assistance can call 423-830-2696 or visit www.bristolmotorspeedway.com