TORONTO, Ont. – The Ontario Trucking Association has established an annual scholarship fund to aid the university or college-bound child of a truck driver having a tough time making ends meet as the result of illness, injury or the death of their over-the-road parent.

OTA will contribute $5,000 per year for two scholarships – one scholarship will be available to the child of a company driver, the other to that of an owner/operator. Recipients will be determined based on need. They must also be under 25 and enrolled in or registered to attend a college or university on a full-time basis.

The fund will be administered by the OTA Education Foundation and will be called the Bud Barr Scholarship Fund. Barr is the current head of the OTA Education Foundation Inc., a registered non-profit organization, and a retired former owner and senior manager in the trucking industry.

“The OTA Education Foundation already distributes tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships to industry members’ children based on academic success and community service,” says David Bradley, OTA president, “but we believe there is a need to provide funding based on economic need in these unfortunate circumstances.”

To be considered for the scholarship, recipients must be Ontario residents and have a family member who has been employed, or in the case of an owner/operator, contracted to an OTA-member trucking company during the previous 12 months. n