The Tampa Bay Strong Campaign was launched in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton to support critical relief efforts across our region. United in purpose, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Lightning Foundation rallied to assist our greater Tampa Bay community in the immediate aftermath of the storms.

Through the generosity of Bolts Nation, we donated over $4 million for hurricane relief, benefiting thousands of individuals and families in need:

  • $2 million was personally donated by Lightning owner Jeff Vinik. This donation supported first responders and teachers who had severe damage to or lost their homes.
  • Our new minority owners, Marc Lipschultz and Doug Ostrover, and their firm Blue Owl Capital, generously donated $1 million to the campaign. Their donation went on to support key areas like education, humanitarian, and community.

  • The final $1 million came from the support of our incredible Tampa Bay Lightning fans! This amount was raised through a variety of initiatives, including:

  • The purchase of Tampa Bay Strong T-Shirts, with 100% of proceeds benefiting hurricane relief through the campaign

  • 50/50 raffle ticket sales, with over 21,000 unique transactions and a final Jackpot of $1,058,895
  • The Lightning Foundation’s charity auction, raising over $12,000
  • The sale of Tampa Bay Strong Mystery Pucks, which brought in over $22,000 both in-person and online

Thanks to our fans, we were able to provide support that kept valuable nonprofit partners up and running, including organizations that provide mental health services and crisis response, a home for foster care sibling groups, and more. We also provided support to 36 local schools that were used as hurricane shelters, helping replenish their paper goods, and helped military families replace appliances they lost in the storm.

In addition, fans donated food, cleaning supplies, baby products, pet food, can openers, and more to our community supply drive, supporting University Area Community Development Corporation, Feeding Tampa Bay, and Metropolitan Ministries. Those organizations were then able to distribute those items those in need.

Finally, our Lightning staff stepped up in countless ways, volunteering their time through both team-led and personal initiatives to help our region recover.

The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Lightning Foundation would like to thank everyone who helped contribute to the Tampa Bay Strong Campaign, because of you our community we were able to help families and businesses get back on their feet in the aftermath of the hurricane.

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