Good things come in trucks

MONTREAL — Some kids who would otherwise be going to bed hungry will eat well this week thanks to a handful of good-hearted people in the trucking business who really know how to connect.

This Wednesday, May 27th two organizations are hosting a food-drop in downtown Montreal. One of them — Feed The Children Canada — is a Guelph, Ont.-based four-year-old charitable organization devoted to helping hungry young’uns around the world. 

The other, Sun Youth, is a community-service organization in Montreal. It will be distributing food hampers to about 1,000 needy families, and the event will be hosted by Hamilton Tiger Cats star Marwan Hage, who actually grew up in Montreal and admits that he very well could have ended up in the streets or jail if it hadn’t been for the guiding hands at Sun Youth. 

HELPING KIDS OUT OF TIGHT SPOTS: Keltic
driver Kevin Desilva delivers the goods.

Now for the trucker part:

FTC’s food storage depot is in Guelph. The drop off is in Montreal. What do to?

Fortunately, the Canadian representative for FTC Canada, Ryan Fletcher, knows Jamie Williams, the president of PeopleNet Canada. FTC is also the charity of choice for proceeds from PeopleNet’s annual golf tournament, which was held last week in Oakville, Ont.)

About a month or so back, Williams introduced Fletcher to the team here at Today’s Trucking. We told readers that FTC was looking for somebody to help get the food from Guelph to Montreal.

The story was picked up by the Owner-Operators Independent Business Association (OOIDA), which distributed it in their newsletter.

New Brunswick truck driver Kevin Desilva saw the story and called FTC, volunteering his time and his Volvo. Desilva drives for Keltic Transportation, which threw its support behind the project. Keltic is a 12-year-old for-hire fleet out of Moncton, with particular expertise in the food industry.

Earlier Desilva made his way up to Guelph and then back to Montreal to deliver the food. Conveniently, even though Desilva and Keltic were offering their services for free, FTC was proactive enough to find a load of Croc shoes that needed delivering from Laval to Guelph, so the trip west wasn’t a complete wash.

Fletcher, who will be in Montreal to watch the needy families get their food, was thrilled with Williams, Desilva and Keltic. "This industry’s full of good hearted people," he said.

"And that story on your website," he added, "saved us about $4,000 that we can now put to good use feeding kids."

What went around, came around.


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