Through our commitment to community service, the Nashville Predators have long been aware of the work and dedication Nashville Rescue Mission provides to help hundreds of people in need every day. In fact, Nashville Rescue Mission is just blocks from Bridgestone Arena, making the campus our neighbor in the heart of downtown Nashville. As an organization, we are dedicated to making Nashville the best place for people to live and work. We believe in leveraging the platform we have as a professional sports team to help where we can, and this includes helping our friends at Nashville Rescue Mission. In touring the facilities, we not only see the great work being done, but also the great need for their services. 

Wanting to contribute to the solution, the Predators have partnered with the Mission for more than 20 years. Over the decades, players and staff have distributed gloves and socks, served meals, made donations of food after events, donated fresh water and water bottles, and contributed shirts and supplies to the donation center. One of our favorite campaigns has become the Sunday Undie Drive. In partnership with Preds sponsor JOCKEY, we engage our fans on a yearly basis to purchase underwear for the Sunday arena drive to help children, women, and men at Nashville Rescue Mission. 

During the 2009-10 season, Predators player Dan Hamhuis funded a playground at the Women’s Campus—a huge milestone in our relationship with the Mission. When the playground ribbon cutting ceremony was scheduled to take place, Dan signed with the Vancouver Canucks and was not able to attend. However, in 2018 after spending eight years away, Dan returned home to Nashville and we all got the full-circle moment of seeing the joy the playground was still bringing to families so many years later. 

We understand that homelessness and addiction are very complex issues and that they run far deeper than providing a roof or a playground. There are many factors that tie into the circumstances that led the women, children, and men to the Mission, and there is no easy fix or singular formula to solve the issue. Everyone has a story and a journey that they are traveling. Each situation and person is so different and needs to be handled as such. In our decades of partnership, we know the Mission addresses each individual with dignity, kindness, and compassion.

In touring the facilities, we not only see the great work being done, but also the great need for their services.

So although the news or complex problems are difficult to solve, it can also be seen as a to do list. With each story that grabs at your heart there is an opportunity to help and everyone has the ability to help in some way—time through volunteering, money through donations, resources through where you work or who you know or even just sharing information with friends and family. If every person, company, and community contributed in some way, it would ease the burden placed on these organizations doing everything possible to help each individual that walks through their doors. 

While we are not experts in this area, we are fortunate that we can provide funding, resources and volunteers to assist where needed. We know Nashville Rescue Mission provides hope—hope to our community, hope to those they serve, and hope to those who need help. The Predators are both proud and humbled to be a small part of these efforts as neighbors and community partners.