Nashville Tornado: How the Chicago Blackhawks Are Helping Relief Efforts

Following Tuesday morning's tornado that caused heavy damage to portions of Nashville and killed [...]

By John Newby

Following Tuesday morning's tornado that caused heavy damage to portions of Nashville and killed at least 24 people, multitudes of bystanders are looking for ways in which to assist the city with recovery efforts. The Chicago Blackhawks have announced that they will be joining the cause to aid the home of their bitter rivals, the Nashville Predators. Here's how the team helped out.

The Blackhawks revealed on Tuesday that they would be donating portions of their 50/50 raffle to the ongoing relief efforts in Tennessee. This "Split the Pot" raffle takes place at home games and provides one lucky winner with the opportunity to receive a monetary prize. Half of the proceeds go to the fan while the other half is donated to charitable foundations.

The exact amount of the donation was not provided following Tuesday's game against the Anaheim Ducks. The Predators still expressed their excitement on social media, thanking the rival team for providing their assistance.

Both the Blackhawks and the Predators reside in the Central Division, making them fierce rivals on the ice. These two teams have faced off in the Stanley Cup playoffs multiple times during an eight-year stretch of time. The Blackhawks won in 2010 and 2015 before winning the Stanley Cup both times. The Predators found got their revenge in 2017 while sweeping the playoff series.

Nashville also received financial assistance from the Minnesota Wild and the Leipold family. The team announced on Tuesday that they would be donating $25,000 to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. The Leipold family, who owns the Wild, added another $25,000.

Craig Leipold was the former owner of the Predators, running the team from its creation in 1998 until 2007. He sold his ownership shares in December 2007 and then purchased Bob Naegele's majority stake of the Wild one month later.

"My family spent over 10 years in Nashville during the time we owned the Predators," Leipold said, per The Tennessean. "We have wonderful memories of our time there and our hearts go out to the community."

The National Hockey League saw the donations to the recovery efforts and decided to get involved as well. The organization revealed that it would be matching the $50,000 donation of the Wild and the Leipold family.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

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