The Trucking Industry Gives Back during Second Year of Pandemic

Washington, D.C. – December 17 –Trucking Moves America Forward (TMAF), the industry-wide education and image movement, is helping tell the story of how the trucking industry has given back to communities through charitable giving and acts this year. Trucking companies and organizations submitted their stories of charitable works to TMAF after an industry-wide call for submissions through email and social media. 

Kevin Burch, co-chairman of TMAF and Vice President of Government Affairs and Sales at MTS, said, “Over the past year, our industry and nation have all faced extraordinary challenges as we recover from economic hardships from the global pandemic and work around the clock to prevent supply chain disruptions. Despite these challenges, our frontline workers in the trucking industry have shown consistency and resilience by keeping a steady hand on the wheel to keep our nation moving forward. We are proud to help our communities stay healthy and safe by ensuring the delivery of food, medicine, and other essential supplies.”

Below is a list of trucking companies and organizations that generously gave back to their communities during the 2021 holiday season and during important times throughout the year.

• Advantage Truck Group in Central Massachusetts, participated in their annual charitable initiative – Haulin’ 4 Hunger – to help families in need this holiday season. The program supplies families within the local communities of ATG dealerships with fresh meals. Since the beginning of the program, ATG has provided 23,000 fresh meals to families in need.

• The American Trucking Associations (ATA) continued its annual participation in the Wreaths Across America convoy from Maine to Arlington National Cemetery, along with many of ATA’s members supporting WAA. ATA continues to donate goods and transportation to disaster relief, and America’s Road Team and Workforce Heroes programs partnered with Interstate Moving Relocation Logistics to deliver donations for Afghan refugees housed at different military bases across the country. ATA’s LEAD ATA Class built and donated bikes for the local Boys and Girls Club of San Antonio, Texas during their Mid-Year Management Session. And, ATA awarded The Trucking Cares Foundation’s Premier Achievement Award to professional driver, John Lex; this award is bestowed annually to an individual or company that exemplifies trucking’s spirit of giving.

• Brenny Transportation, Inc. once again participated in the local WinterWalk that takes place every year in St. Joseph, MN. This year, the company drove out to the local arboretum and loaded up a 50 ft. tall Blue Spruce tree to haul to the Church of St. Joseph. Upon arrival, the tree was placed for all to see and then beautifully decorated with lights. Brenny Transportation’s team also raised over $8,000 to donate to families in need this holiday season.
• This past year, C.H. Robinson, a multimodal transportation services and third-party logistics provider in Eden Prairie, MN, launched a “thank-you campaign, and sweepstakes” designed to galvanize the nation behind an important goal: appreciating the truck drivers who never left the road and never stopped delivering, even during the most challenging of times. Two thousand thank you letters were submitted and, as part of the campaign, C.H. Robinson gave away $100,000 in cash sweepstakes to truck drivers and carriers during National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (Sept. 12-18). C.H. Robinson also supported families, organizations and causes through grants and scholarship programs, and the C.H. Robinson Foundation donated $100,000 over two years to the St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund, which helps truck drivers in need.
• Estes Express Lines, based in Richmond, VA, participated in the “Bikes for Kids” bike drive where they delivered 415 bikes from New Jersey to River City to be assembled by volunteers from the Richmond Area Bicycle Association (RABA), an organization that raised more than $35,000 to buy the bikes for kids in need this holiday season.

• From Augusta, Georgia, F&W Transportation, in partnership with E-Z-GO/Textron Specialized Vehicles, donated and delivered 1,200 cases of bottled water to Texas to benefit relief efforts following the devastation of Winter Storm Uri.

• Garner Trucking, Inc. from Findlay, OH, provided food transportation for a local food driver; collected and donated coats for a local drive; sponsored a local child and collected holiday gifts to help make the holidays a little brighter for a local family; and participated in Wreaths Across America by donating over 1,000 wreaths to honor the fallen veterans. Other notable contributions include providing transportation for food donations from the University of Findlay to Chopin Hall, a partnership with The City Mission of Findlay to help the homeless, the delivery of coats for those in need and a proud partnership with Keeping Our Kids Safe – a local community organization that allows individuals to sponsor a child for the holidays.

• This year, Keller Logistics’, headquartered in Defiance, OH, and its in-house philanthropy team raised over $48,000 for Operation K.A.V.I.C. (Keller Assists Veterans in Crisis), which helps local veterans where there are financial gaps in their veterans’ benefits. The company generously hosted a free dinner in November for all local veterans and their families. Keller also supported Wreaths Across America by delivering wreaths to Ohio cemeteries and sponsored a series of events to encourage families to shop locally this holiday season.

• Kentucky Truck Sales, Inc. based in Jeffersonville IN, partnered with its sister company Century NationaLease to donate to a local facility that fosters and counsels’ youth in the area known as Childplace Family Services this past July. The donations came from 75 employees from both companies who took the donations directly to the center.

• This year, Landstar System Inc.’s employees donated gifts to benefit children at the Child Guidance Center’s (CGC) Angel Tree program in Jacksonville, Florida. Landstar’s Rockford-based employees supported the Winnebago/Boone Foster Care Alliance, which is a collaboration of child welfare agencies in the Winnebago and Boone counties in Illinois. Landstar employees donated 50 $25 gift cards that can be used to purchase gifts or necessities at Walmart, Target, Visa, or Amazon.

• Old Dominion Freight Line based in Thomasville, NC made a $100,000 donation to Toys for Tots this past year. The company hosts over 80 Toys for Tots toy drives annually at the corporate office and across the company’s vast network of service centers. They also donated over 200,000 canned foods to the salvation army. Old Dominion also partners with the Salvation Army to hold a food drive where they donated over 4,000 canned food items.
• Pilot Company, based out of Knoxville, TN, raised a record-breaking $1.75 million from a three-week-in-store round-up campaign which will benefit the Call of Duty Endowment – a non-profit organization committed to placing Veteran’s into high-quality jobs after their service. This incredible amount triples the original 2021 goal of $500,000 and will supplement more than 3,000 service members in their search for employment. Pilot also donated $30,000 to Wreaths Across America and gave a $150,000 donation to feature TMAF on the No.1 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet at the NASCAR Xfinity Series event at the Michigan International Speedway in August. The TMAF branded car promoted the importance of trucking and raised awareness on how the trucking industry continues to keep the country moving forward.

• Rhode Island Trucking Association hosted its Annual Torch Run Truck Convoy for Special Olympics. This year, they proudly raised over $8,000. All the money was donated to the Rhode Island Special Olympics athletes.

• From Central Texas, SH 130 Concession Company generously partnered with the Caldwell County Sheriff Department’s Brown Santa program this year and donated 150 toys, games, and books for local families in need. The company also donated $5,000 to the Guadalupe Regional Medical Foundation which supports healthcare workers and hospitals in the region.

• Smith Trucking, located in Worthington, MN, participated once again in a donation drive that goes to families in need in their local community this holiday season. This year, the donations amounted to $2,850.

• Each year the Trucking Association of New York holds two golf outings, one in the Western Region of the state and one in the Metro Region of the state. Both golf outings raise money for local non-profits. This year, the Western Region Golf Outing raised over $3,000 for a non-profit called Sleep in Heavenly Peace, which provides beds for children while the Metro region raised over $14,000 for a non-profit called Tunnel 2 Towers. 
• Truckers Christmas Group (TCGO), a non-profit organization based out of Wichita, KS that raises funds to help professional CDL drivers and their families in the United States and Canada, hosted its 14^th Annual Holiday Fundraising Campaign. One major part of the campaign was the Winter Virtual Concert. The donations of goods and funds helps ensure that every truck driver in need can support their families during the holiday season. Other charitable contributions included, donating 35 grants of $650 to 35 different families, raffling off two pairs of boots valued at over $1000, and partnering with RoadPro to donate a selection of goods valued at over $500. 

• System Transport, based in Cheney, Washington, and a member of the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA), was selected to drive the truck that delivered the 2021 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree from Six Rivers National Forest in California to the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. Additionally, TCA and its member companies were instrumental in the delivery of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s The Wall That Heals mobile education center and Wreaths Across America remembrance wreaths. 

To learn more about TMAF and the movement’s work, visit https://live-trucking-moves-america.pantheonsite.io/.  

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About Trucking Moves America Forward 

Trucking Moves America Forward aims to establish a long-term industry-wide movement to create a positive image for the industry, to ensure that policymakers and the public understand the importance of the trucking industry to the nation’s economy, and to build the political and grassroots support necessary to strengthen and grow the industry in the future. To learn more, visit https://live-trucking-moves-america.pantheonsite.io/. Also join and follow TMAF through social media, on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Medium.