Trucks For Change (T4C) hosted its fourth annual partner reception this week to toast the contributions and efforts of sponsors, charity partners and supporters – including the OTA – for making the program a success.
T4C, whose board is made up of several OTA member carriers – accepts donations of surplus assets, equipment, and unclaimed freight, then delivers it to community charities with available truck capacity donated or discounted by its member carriers. These partners have helped moved more than 12 million pounds of donated goods to date.
As reported by Truck News:
“It’s frankly my most exciting day of the year to share the room with people who ‘get it’ from our industry,” said president and founder Pete Dalmazzi said the day is one he looks forward to each year. “When people invest in communities, we invest in ourselves and invest in our businesses. And we don’t just do good for others, but we’re doing the right thing for ourselves and our industry, as well.”
“We didn’t invent trucking philanthropy, but we like to think we changed the way that it happens by working collaboratively and efficiently.”
Among may other supporters, the event featured former Stanley Cup winner and current leader of the NHL Alumni Association, Mark Napier. Recently-named OTA Service to Industry recipient Mark Seymour of Kriska Transportation was also on hand to offer strong words of encouragement for the program.
Following the reception, seven teams of 10 made up from the trucking industry headed to the nearby Daily Bread Food Bank for a Food Sort Challenge.
Teams had to sort and pack thousands of pounds of food for the food bank as fast as possible. Food donations were checked for expiry dates and sorted in appropriate boxes to help those in need and teams were definitely hustling in the process. Rankings were calculated by the time taken and total weight sorted.
Team Newcom – Canada’s leading publisher of trucking industry publications – came out on top. They were followed by other OTA carrier and Allied Trade members Midland Transport; Trailer Wizards; Midland Courier; Navistar; Manitoulin Transport and Bison Transport.
Overall, all seven teams helped to sort more than 22,000 lbs of food in just 90 minutes, while raising more than $18,000 for the Daily Bread Food Bank.
The event was the kickoff for Rolling Over Hunger, a holiday campaign involving food collection drives happening across the trucking industry, said Dalmazzi.
Carriers and industry supporters who are either already planning food collection drives for their local food bank agencies, or who would like to do so should contact Trucks For Change at (905) 844-8658 or pete@trucksforchange.org.
Dalmazzi points out that any carrier or organization across Canada can get involved. T4C can also help any company get started by connecting them with local food bank agencies in the communities where they do business.
He also says that delivering food collection bins and picking up collected food is something most local food banks will gladly arrange for participating companies.