UT Cheerleader returns home to Cocke County to help after flooding

COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. ( WATE ) — University of Tennessee Cheerleader and Parrottsville native Sophia Rouleau is helping her community recover after flooding from Hurricane Helene devastated the area.

After the storm hit, Rouleau immediately returned home to help her mom distribute supplies to people in some of the hardest hit areas. She’s been coming back in between classes and practices.

“My mom has been taking donations just from people that know her, out of state she has a lot of friends and she’s been using the donations to collect supplies and bring it here, along with other locations, we’re trying to hit the main areas like Edwina, Bridgeport, Denton and Hartford,” she said.

The Cocke County High School graduate said the community there is tight-knit and it wasn’t a question to return home to help out.

“Growing up in Cocke County, we’ve always been a close community. I’m blessed to grow up here and it’s been a lot of community help,” she said. “It’s a huge effort, even though we do have a lot of help within the community and we’re always helping our neighbors, we still do need more help in this just because it’s such a big thing that we can’t tackle by ourselves. But I’m thankful that I live in a community where we help each other.”

In addition to friends, family and neighbors, Rouleau said she’s received support from her teammates and others at UT.

“I do live in Knoxville and I’ve been blessed to have a close community with the cheer team there. When I wasn’t here the several days this week that I came home, helping in between classes and practice, a lot of my teammates were giving me donations and I was collecting supplies from them,” she said. “Yesterday, when I came home for fall break, I had a whole carload full, barely had enough room for my stuff in the car, but I’m so thankful that I have them and how much they’re willing to help.”

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