By the Canadian Trucking Alliance

The Canadian trucking industry is being challenged to pay it forward by organizing company food drives in the lead-up to Christmas. The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) and Trucks For Change (T4C) are urging trucking and related companies to collect and deliver non-perishable food to local food banks to help Canadians who are experiencing food insecurity.

“We are hearing almost daily now about how inflation combined with housing and other costs have driven unprecedented numbers of families to food banks at a time when donations to those food banks have been lagging,” says T4C chair Scott Smith. “The trucking industry is in a unique position in that we can turn to our workers and customers to donate much-needed food and also deliver it to the food banks in our communities that need it most.”

T4C and CTA have produced a toolkit that includes steps for organizing company food drives. The toolkit also contains instructions on how carriers’ giving activities can be showcased on social media. CTA and T4C are looking to collect images and event descriptions from Canadian carriers. Each post will be tagged with the popular hashtags #ThankaTrucker and #TruckersPayitforward.

“CTA and T4C have joined forces through various programs this year to assist Canadians experiencing food insecurity,” says CTA chair Greg Munden. “This food drive challenge encourages Canadian carriers to continue to help those in their communities who are struggling to put food on their tables.”

According to Food Banks Canada’s 2022 HungerCount report, one-third of food bank users are children, and nearly half are from single adult households. The number of total visits has increased by 15% between 2021 and 2022.