Nashville Predators & Country Stars Partner With Compassion International To ‘Fill the Arena’ & Fight Childhood Hunger

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Photo: Courtesy of Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp

The Nashville Predators Foundation, empowered by SmileDirectClub, partnered with Compassion International to kickstart Fill the Arena, an urgent effort to rally those in the Nashville area and beyond to feed children and their families — 17,159 children to be exact — the same number of seats in Bridgestone Arena.

The Preds hosted their first Fill the Arena night on Saturday (April 1), where the community gathered at Bridgestone Arena to watch them play the St. Louis Blues and to support Compassion International’s mission to feed children. The second Fill the Arena night will be on Thursday (April 6) when Nashville hosts the Carolina Hurricanes.

“Big changes often start with small things that move one person into action,” says Compassion CEO & President Santiago “Jimmy” Mellado. “Every seat in the Bridgestone Arena represents a child in need and every meal provided will give children a real chance to thrive. Every athlete and artist partnering with Fill the Arena is committed to answer the call to help vulnerable children around the world.”

Spearheaded by past and present Predators players including Mike Fisher, Ryan Johansen and Roman Josi, as well as country music star Chase Rice and more, the Fill the Arena team is ready to do their part to address world hunger. These elite athletes and artists understand that their leadership and participation can help bring much-needed attention to this worthy cause.

“We are facing a global hunger crisis,” says Fisher. “Fill the Arena is Nashville’s answer to the global food crisis, both across the globe and here in our own backyard. We are extremely passionate about filling every seat in this arena and are confident that people will step up and help us Fill the Arena!”

Compassion International previously teamed up with professional athletes from numerous sports to complete Fill the Stadium, an effort in direct response to food shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign raised over $36 million and provided life-saving food and support to 76,473 children around the world.

Founded in 1952, Compassion International is a Christian child development organization that works to release children from poverty. Compassion revolutionized the fight against global poverty by working exclusively with the church to lift children out of spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty. Compassion partners with more than 8,000 churches in 25 countries to deliver their holistic child development program to more than two million babies, children and young adults. Their child sponsorship program has been validated through independent, empirical research. In just two years, food insecurity has doubled  to affect 276 million people.

Steven Boero
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