Titans raise more than $130,000 through Inspire Change initiative

[T-Rac]

Getty Images

The Titans announced Wednesday their organization raised more than $130,000 in 2020 through the NFL’s Inspire Change initiative.

The Titans gave donations to nine organizations that seek to address social injustice.

The funds were raised through Titans players’ personal donations to the cause of their choice. The Titans Foundation and the NFL offered a matching program.

“The level of participation from the players has been amazing,” Tina Tuggle, the team’s vice president of community impact, said, via the team website. “One of the things that I am most proud of with our guys is that you don’t have to force them to be involved in the community. This is something that is extremely important to them, and this just gives us an opportunity to learn about how they want to make a difference. We are very glad to be able to support them in those efforts.

The 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee, a non-profit organization providing resources to further the academic and social development of Black male students in Nashville and Middle Tennessee, was among the organization’s to receive funds.

Titans players also created “Real Conversations with a Titan,” a virtual program aimed at reaching local youth. The conversations focused on encouraging a dialogue of love, respect, hard work, compassion, communication, equality and accountability while also speaking about dealing with adversity.

Positive change clearly has resulted, quarterback Ryan Tannehill said Wednesday.

“I would definitely agree that eyes are more open now than they have ever been,” Tannehill said. “When you think of a football team, you have 90 guys in training camp that come from all different walks of life, all different backgrounds, all different parts of the country, and that is the beautiful part about football. It is able to bring all those different types of people together. One of the coolest things about this year, is not only did we bring these people together, we were able to have open conversations and dialogue about how different people have been impacted by social justice issues their entire lives.

“Being able to hear true, open, emotional stories about how guys were impacted opens a lot of peoples’ eyes and obviously we were able to use that to try and effect change and impact our communities as we move forward.”