Then came Cyber Monday, which is today. This was created as online shopping’s answer to Black Friday when e-commerce began to boom. It’s said many folks spend the weekend looking for bargains and adding them to their online wish lists. Then, once at work Monday, use their employer’s faster broadband and. time to make their purchases.
These two days of high octane consumerism helped spawn Giving Tuesday, which is, tomorrow, Dec. 1. Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 and has grown into a global movement that encourages people to give to others in any way they can. They can donate their time, their money, goods, services, labor, support, anything that helps others. That could mean writing a check to a non-profit organization whose work you believe in, or it could be simply helping out a neighbor in need. It matters less the size of your giving, but that you give.
And, it’s possible to direct your efforts on Giving Tuesday to organizations that help truckers, or to ones that are near and dear to the hearts of truckers and the trucking industry. On Giving Tuesday, you can direct your gifts or support to:
Truckers Final Mile. This non-profit helps North American truckers in a variety of ways, including ensuring the body of a trucker who dies while on the road is returned safely to their family. The group also aids drivers and their families cope with:
- Severe injury to a trucker
- Major medical event by a truck driver
- Any of the above occurring to a household member of a truck driver
- A mobility program which began the groundwork to establish a network of providers to retrofit homes of drivers with mobility and accessibility needs
- Grief counseling with an on-staff chaplain or independent grief counselors through a voucher program
St. Christopher’s Truckers Relief Fund. “The St. Christopher Truckers Development and Relief Fund is a 501(c)(3), truck driver charity that helps over-the-road/regional semi-truck drivers and their families when an illness or injury, occurring within the last year, has caused them to be out of work.” The fund also offers a variety of programs to help truckers improve their health.
The Truckers Christmas Group Since being founded in 2008, this organization has helped more than 180 truck driver families in need. The organization raises funds through direct donations but also operates an online store where folks may purchase items that have been donated by trucking businesses and organizations. The money raised is shared with families of truck drivers to help make Christmas a little brighter.
Meals for 18 Wheels This organization coordinates efforts to get a hot meal to a trucker in need. There are special efforts at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but drivers can request and receive a meal at other times if they happen to be short of resources.
Trucker Charity Among the services the organization provides truckers in need is a mentoring program, financial assistance, and a food bank located off Interstate 70 in Brownstown, Illinois. It also has an online store to raise money to aid truckers.
