Pilot is committed to giving back to the community and has been a tremendous supporter of United Way over the years. When Pilot was seeking to raise awareness and boost support for the United Way’s annual campaign, Moxley Carmichael was ready to help.
In 1992, Moxley Carmichael Founder and CEO Cynthia Moxley developed the community-focused awareness campaign Pilot Celebrity Pumpers. Since then, the program has become the single-largest special event fundraiser for the United Way of Greater Knoxville.
Each year in October at the start of the United Way campaign, local celebrities, elected officials and media personalities are invited to be guest pumpers, donating an hour of their time to pump gas for customers at local Pilot stations. Moxley Carmichael coordinates the scheduling of celebrity pumpers over this three-day event, as well as securing media sponsors and promotion.
Media personalities and elected officials have shown enthusiastic support for this program, and the public appreciates the opportunity to visit with our celebrity pumpers. Over the years we have had some splendid special guest pumpers, including NASCAR driver for Pilot Racing Michael Annett, Olympic Gold Medalist Davis Tarwater and University of Tennessee coaches, including Donnie Tyndall and Holly Warlick.
The extra customer traffic benefits both Pilot and United Way. During the event, Pilot donates five cents of every gallon of gas sold and 10 cents of every dollar spent inside the store to United Way of Greater Knoxville.
The first year, Pilot delivered the proceeds from the Pilot Celebrity Pumpers event to the United Way office in cash in a wheelbarrow – a visual the media loved. Celebrity Pumpers, which since its inception has helped to raise more than $1 million dollars, has become a very visible signature event for Pilot and United Way.