Over $100,000 Raised for Families Affected by Wildfires
In the past two weeks, Lodge has raised over $100,000 for families impacted by the Tennessee wildfires through the web sale of our 2016 Great Smoky Mountains 10.25 inch cast iron skillet. We are absolutely stunned at the amount of interest everyone has shown for this initiative, and we are very grateful to all those who made a purchase to help raise money for families in need.
Each year, Lodge creates a special skillet with the Great Smoky Mountains logo on it and sells it exclusively at the two Lodge factory stores located in Pigeon Forge and Sevierville, Tennessee. Due to the devastating wildfires in neighboring town Gatlinburg in late November 2016, we decided to make the skillet available for sale on our website for a limited time and donate $15 from the purchase of each skillet directly to the Dollywood Foundation"s 'My People Fund,' which gives money directly to families affected by the wildfires.
After only four and a half hours online on Monday, December 12, we sold out of the Great Smoky Mountains skillet on our website and quickly raised thousands of dollars for families impacted by the wildfires. We were so blown away by the support and experienced such an enormous amount of requests to make more skillets that we rearranged our production schedule the very next day to make more. Ten days later, we had raised over $100,000 for families in need.
While our Great Smoky Mountains skillet is no longer available, you can give directly to the My People Fund here. For those who have purchased a 2016 Great Smoky Mountains skillet, we are are doing all we can to make and ship these as quickly as possible, and we appreciate your patience as we work to make this happen. We anticipate longer ship times stretching into early January. You will receive a shipping confirmation once your order has shipped. We are extremely grateful for the support everyone has shown for this initiative, and we are humbled to be able to play a small role to help the families who need it most.
