Playing Santa now and throughout the year

Toronto, Ontario—Even though Hallowe’en hasn’t arrived yet, it’s not too early to start thinking about Christmas—and specifically about helping those less fortunate.

The Canadian Institute of Traffic and Transportation (CITT) has put out a call for logistics professionals to help purchase, store, pack and deliver Christmas presents to families in need. CITT’s Toronto Area Council received a request for assistance from Holiday Helpers, a registered charity that delivers gifts (along with an artificial Christmas tree and a grocery store gift certificate) to low income families. It is looking for people who can provide warehoue space in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), purchasing expertise, cardboard boxes, and/or drivers and vehicles from late November through mid-December.

While this is a single, Toronto-focused effort, there are plenty of opportunities for those in the supply chain to do good right across the country, 365 days of the year.

Speaking at the International Warehouse and Logistics Association (IWLA Canada) Fall conference, Pete Dalmazzi, president of Trucks for Change told attendees “A lot of these charities are very unsophisticated, emerging supply chain and logistics companies. They are trying to do the right thing but they don’t have a lot of resources and they don’t have a big budget, but they are doing a lot of work and they do have budgets.”

Trucks for Change is an organization created to facilitate and promote the charitable assistance work done by its members. Primarily it matches open capacity of trucking and logistics firms with national charities in need of supply chain services, either on a pro bono or discounted basis.

As Dalmazzi explained not only are supply chain and logistics professionals able to help out with skills, equipment and expertise that many of these charitable organizations don’t have internally, getting involved with community activities helps increase awareness and creates good publicity for the industry as a whole.