{"id":1887,"date":"2021-07-27T19:39:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T19:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trucksforchange.org\/?p=1887"},"modified":"2021-07-27T20:22:08","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T20:22:08","slug":"canadian-truckers-roll-to-battle-child-hunger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trucksforchange.org\/canadian-truckers-roll-to-battle-child-hunger\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Truckers Roll to Battle Child Hunger"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CanadianMore than two dozen Canadian trucking companies hit the road this summer to join the fight against child\u00a0hunger.<\/p>\n

Food Banks Canada, through the organization\u2019s After the Bell program, enlisted the help of Canadian truckers to\u00a0help support the\u00a0<\/strong>delivery of\u00a0150,000 healthy food packs to children in need this summer. Food Banks Canada\u00a0reports that\u00a034 per cent of the people who rely on food banks in the country are children.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0food packs are sent to participating food bank programs throughout the country to help\u00a0children living with hunger. Since the start of the pandemic, food banks have experienced\u00a0a\u00a0rise in the number of people accessing\u00a0their services.\u00a0The organization says\u00a0they expect to see more people accessing their services as social support programs such as the Canada Recovery Benefit begin to wind down.<\/p>\n

To help meet\u00a0the new demands on food banks, 25 Canadian carriers \u2013 who are part of the\u00a0Canadian Trucking Alliance<\/a>\u00a0and members of the\u00a0Trucks for Change<\/a>\u00a0Network, stepped up to volunteer their services to transport the food across the country.\u00a0CTA\/T4C carriers moved a total of 227 pallets to 52 local food banks in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving assisted Food Banks Canada with After the Bell campaigns in previous years, the Trucks for Change network welcomed the support of the Canadian Trucking Alliance and its members to help move essential food packs to address child hunger across the country,\u201d said T4C chair Scott Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarriers and drivers alike embraced this opportunity to help out fellow Canadians through this annual program,\u201d echoed the network\u2019s executive director, Betsy Sharples.\u00a0\u201cOur member companies are proud to have been able to play a critical role in making the After the Bell program a success,\u00a0and we look forward to\u00a0working with CTA to\u00a0expand our network of carriers so that we can support similar future national initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the start of the pandemic, Canadian carriers and truck drivers have stepped up to deliver the essential products, food and medical supplies Canadians rely on. We are grateful for the outpouring of appreciation Canadians have shown our industry during that time and we always welcome any opportunity to pay it forward and give back,\u201d says\u00a0CTA\u2019s CEO Stephen Laskowski.<\/p>\n

Chris Hatch,\u00a0CEO of Food Banks Canada, is thankful for CTA\u2019s and T4C\u2019s support.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood Banks Canada has begun a journey to incorporate community research related to the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion into our decision-making so that we can ensure equitable distribution of the After the Bell healthy food packs,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0says. \u201cThanks to partners like CTA and Trucks for Change, we can ensure the packs can reach children in even the most remote communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CTA\/T4C carriers that took part in delivering food are:<\/p>\n