MONTREAL — One of Canada’s busiest food truckers is looking for a capable partner to haul a few trailer loads from its central Ontario warehouse to downtown Montreal in June — for free. That’s right. Free.

But don’t worry; it’s not because rate cutting has gotten way out of hand. It’s because there are a lot of needy families out there and the hauler that’s looking for a partner is the Guelph, Ont.,-based charitable organization called FTC Canada. 

Most of the time, the four-year-old organization collects food and distributes it to various agencies and services across Canada and throughout the world.

According to Canadian representative Ryan Fletcher, FTC hires (and pays) carriers to fetch donated non-perishables from manufacturers to deliver to central warehouses from where it gets distributed. “In Canada,” the annual report states, "we are becoming well-positioned as experts in procurement and distribution."

They moved about a million dollars worth of non-perishables in January.

Between their second and third years of operation, FTC’s revenue ballooned from $8 million to almost $15 million. (According to the annual report, 89.8 percent of that went directly into programs.)

But occasionally, they do one-off ‘food drops” in local municipalities. These are higher-profile public events, often involving local sports celebrities. Most recently, FTC engaged Raptor Chris Bosh with a Toronto food drop at a downtown Presbyterian Church.

The event was sponsored by the multinational food producer, ADM Milling.

(The Raptors-irony borders on spectacular. FTC arranged with the NBA Players Association months ahead of time to have noted good-guy Raptor Bosh show up at the food drop, and a few days before, the star’s ex tried to accuse him of reneging on his own child’s support. And there he was, helping other people’s kids. Her accusations remain unsubstantiated.)

Last year, FTC chose Hamilton, Ont., for the drop. And with the help of well-known local carrier Fluke Transportation, which provided a truck and driver for the day; the local Ti-Cats, and team centre Marwan Hage, FTC distributed more than 1,000 parcels consisting of a frozen ham, a box of food and a loaf of fresh-baked bread from a local bakery to needy families.

In an interview with todaystrucking.com, Fletcher says the organization has boxes ready for the Montreal event. All he has to do is line up sponsors and agencies.

FTC knows from trucks. Its parent organization in the U.S. is so busy hauling donated food that it has built up a fleet of trucks and runs a for-hire business on the side.

Also, Fletcher reports that in-cab communications experts PeopleNet are also strong supporters of his business and chose FTC as the charity of choice for its annual golf tournament last year.

"And they’re doing it again this time around," Fletcher says. The tournament’s scheduled for May 20.

If you’re interested in helping out or learning more, go to www.ftccanada.org or contact Ryan at ryan@ftccanada.org.