Graci Vlattas, Junior Editor
At Sewanee, extracurricular and athletic programs are held to a high standard and are deeply immersed into the community of the University. Club events in the afternoons and sports games on the weekends keep life at Sewanee interesting and interconnected. Those events, however, are not possible without support for the surrounding community and those connected to it. Tiger Tuesday 2026, on April 14th, is a huge Sewanee fundraising milestone that helps cultivate the organizations we all know and love.
Donations from generous donors and loving families range from gifts to specific programs to funds for general University support. Although athletics are a big advertiser for the annual giving day, other campus programs like the Sewanee Volunteer Fire Department reap the benefits as well.
The SVFD recently held their firefighting tryouts over the course of multiple weeks, with x freshmen undergoing weeks of educational and physical training to learn how to be a firefighter. Their literature and physical tests were held where the new recruits were chosen and thrown into the program. You may have seen the volunteer firefighters on-call around campus with walkie-talkies, or have seen them in action in the firetruck. The department includes 18 student firefighters, including the six freshmen who just joined to replace the six graduating seniors, as well as 22 community members. The firefighting program is important to the University and helps keep everyone safe. That makes Tiger Tuesday, where they also get important donations for equipment and resources, all the more vital.
Thanks to specific gifts from last year’s record-setting $4.8 million Tiger Tuesday, the fire department was able to acquire equipment essential to protecting not only our community but assisting in neighboring counties. The new gear, ranging from thermal imaging cameras to airpacks to new mountain rescue equipment allowing faster and safer recovery of injured people, came from a total of $45,214.82 in last year’s Tiger Tuesday donations.
For the upcoming Tiger Tuesday, Chief Terry Smith said he’s hoping that matching challenge gifts and other donations will allow the department to buy two more airpack sets and extra oxygen cylinders and drafting equipment to pull water from ponds and lakes in areas that lack fire hydrants: “And then this equipment down here is drafting [pulling water from ponds or lakes] so we can make a quicker access in the Jumpoff area and Myers Point, where we don’t have good hydrants,” Smith said.
Smith also hopes to be able to buy specialized hand tools and another thermal imaging camera for the Rescue 1 truck. He noted those would allow the department to field Rescue 1 as a stand-alone firefighting company similar to those sent out with the department’s engines, an improvement that could help area homeowners, businesses, and the University to get lower insurance rates.
University faculty and staff are not the only people participating in spreading the hype of Tiger Tuesday 2026, students are doing their promotions too.
Shephard Ramsey (C ’28) is doing double duty as both a member of the SVFD and captain of the Sewanee Field Hockey team. Like many Sewanee students, she is grateful that alumni, parents, neighbors and friends of the University respond so generously. “Tiger Tuesday means a lot to me because it works to support the field hockey team as well as the Fire Department community,” she told the Purple. Both of these organizations have allowed me to grow and build lifelong relationships while knowing I am supporting something bigger than myself. Donating to Sewanee Athletics and other programs gives students the opportunity to make the most out of their college experience.”
As the tenth anniversary of Tiger Tuesday approaches, you can keep an eye out for Tiger Tuesday updates from Ramsey and other students, faculty and staff @sewaneefh Instagram. Stay safe, Sewanee!