Tech Professor Taking Supplies To Native Americans

Tennessee Tech History Professor Troy Smith will take donated supplies to North Carolina next month to provide Native Americans with the essential supplies they need.

Smith collecting supplies for the Living Waters Food Pantry in Cherokee, to aid the poor and needy on the reservation. Smith said the reservation was not severely damaged by the recent hurricanes but the pantry’s warehouse in Asheville was completely destroyed.

“There’s so much destruction out there,” Smith said. “Other places, like I said, were harder hit but then they’re getting the aid, you know? And it’s not so much what it’s going to do as what it’s going to help them continue to do, which is provide for the poor and needy.”

Donations are being accepted at the Putnam County Democratic Headquarters as well as Tech’s history office in Henderson Hall. Smith said anyone looking to donate should give food, water, diapers, cleaning supplies, and hygiene products before Smith leaves with the donations on November 8.

“I’ve had folks tell me here on campus and in the community that they found it to be very inspiring to be able to be a part of an effort to directly help somebody,” Smith said. “A lot of the times you don’t know where this stuff is going to or how many hands it’s going to go through, but in this case it’s going straight to those Indigenous folks.”

Smith said people can find his email on the website for Tech’s history department and contact him to donate money via PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, or other similar platforms.

“We will take the items that we have and the money that we get will buy more items and we’ll head out there at least one more time,” Smith said.

Smith said he learned about the need for supplies at this reservation because the pantry is a frequent partner of Tech’s.

“I’ve taken students out there to volunteer for the day handing out food and stuff,” Smith said. “We were just there in August. And when I found out they were in sore straits and had no idea where they were going to get the stuff they needed I decided that if we’re partners, we should be partners and I started putting out the call.”

Smith said this will be the second supply run they have made because they brought three vehicles full of supplies to the pantry a couple weeks ago.