On November 20, 120 trucking industry employees representing over 20 different highway carriers and industry trades came together in Toronto to fight hunger while competing for the title of Trucking Industry Food Sort Champs. The annual event, hosted by Trucks For Change Network, was held at Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank, which distributes food to 135 member food agencies across the city, enabling 750,000 food bank visits and 2.7 million meals annually to those in need.
The “competition” challenged each team to accurately sort and package 3,500 pounds of donated food as quickly as possible. Teams from Kriska Transportation Group and Toronto Trucking Association emerged as joint champions, but the high energy event, complete with roaring DJ music, prizes, and coverage by CBC TV, was a win for everyone involved. Special thanks went out to Trailer Wizards for its generous sponsorship of the event, and to Polaris Transportation, who participated with not one but two teams of volunteers.
Overall, trucking industry teams sorted 42,000 pounds of food, and raised $36,000 towards the purchase of a new truck for Daily Bread’s fleet, which will extend its reach and impact across the communities it serves, according to Daily Bread’s VP of Operations Sandra Nestic.
Said Pete Dalmazzi of Trucks For Change Network, “Events like this demonstrate yet again our industry’s commitment to supporting the communities we work in every day.”
Added Mark Seymour, CEO of Kriska Transportation Group, “Trucks for Change brings scale to the effort of fighting hunger by bringing trucking industry competitors together to help our communities”, adding “Our team featured people from 9 of our 10 companies plus me. It’s a fun and popular event, and we have a waiting list for next year!”.
You can find out more about Daily Bread Food Bank’s work fighting hunger at www.dailybread.ca.