Hope and connection: As 2024 wraps up and as we enter this annual season of reflection, those two themes are top of my mind for me — what they mean for us as individuals, as families, as teammates of our colleagues, for our businesses, and as a trucking industry as a whole.
The holiday season is of course a time when we intentionally and actively seek to connect with others — family, friends, and colleagues, of course, but also strangers and those in our community who we’ve never met and may not meet again. It’s also a season of hope for the new year ahead and a time to find ways to extend hope to those around us who are in need of it.
That theme of hope, in particular, has been circling around in my mind after two events NTI participated in over the past few weeks, both with Hope right there in the name: Drive for Hope and Hope for Opelousas.
Last month, NTI’s team attended the annual Forward Air Drive for Hope event, which supports Hope For The Warriors’ Drive for Hope program, helping to restore driving independence to wounded service members through adaptive driving and rehabilitation. After suffering catastrophic injuries, many veterans don’t have access to services that address restoring the ability to drive a motor vehicle. Drive for Hope reestablishes hope for these heroes – hope that they’ll regain independence and autonomy.
NTI also sponsored and attended a fundraising event for Hope for Opelousas in October. Opelousas is a town in south central Louisiana where more than 45% of residents live in poverty. Hope for Opelousas is a nonprofit that works to stop the cycle of poverty through educational support, mentorship, and family services.
The Drive for Hope event in November, held in Braselton, Georgia, felt like a full-circle moment for me, because I was able to attend the first Drive for Hope event in Washington, D.C., in 2019, where the partnership between Forward Air and Hope for the Warriors began. (Sidenote: At the 2019 event, Gary Sinise, who played Lieutenant Dan in the movie Forest Gump and graduated from the same high school as me, was the emcee for the event, which also included a beautiful parade of veterans and their families.)
And it was at this year’s Drive for Hope event where Jason Williams, president of Expediter Services, gave a speech that deeply resonated with me. As we all know, we’re in business and working hard every day to make money. Making a living and striving to earn is something we all do, but as Jason put it, just turning dollars can sometimes feel unfulfilling and empty. Rather, it’s our connection to others in our work with our colleagues, partners, vendors, customers, employees, and peers that adds transcendent value and meaning beyond simply turning dollars.
That’s one of the reasons why NTI participates in this event each year, and Jason said the same about Expediter Services’ support.
In trucking, these themes are so relevant, too, not only in the annual holiday season, but throughout the year every year, and especially in this tough economic season we’ve been in over the past two years.
For our drivers, that means not only making sure their day-to-day needs are met so that they can go above and beyond to deliver loads safely and on time to meet the needs of our fleets and our customers, but also in ensuring we’re providing support in as many ways as possible so they feel empowered to thrive in their jobs and that they feel seen and heard.
For our industry’s financial prospects, we have all been leaning on hope for a while now. As we continue to push through this long-running tough freight cycle, we are all hopeful for something new in the year ahead. There are some early signs our market is improving, and we’re all peering out from a pedestal of hope that brighter days are ahead.
Lastly, and maybe most importantly, this holiday season we can all find hope and connection in giving back. When we support causes and communities drivers care about, our drivers feel personally supported by us as well. For fleets looking to give back, we have a few go-to organizations we encourage companies to support — St. Christopher’s Truckers Relief Fund, Truckers Final Mile, Truckers Against Trafficking, the Women in Trucking Foundation, Meals for 18 Wheels, and the Next Generation in Trucking Foundation. But there are so many organizations that need our support to accomplish their missions, so look around in your local communities too, and seek input from your drivers for suggestions about causes they’d like to see you support.
Whether it’s time, money, awareness, or other resources, by finding these opportunities to provide hope this season, we’re giving ourselves and our drivers a chance to be part of something larger than ourselves, and to build connections that bring more meaning and fulfillment to our work and to the lives of others.
I wish you and your family so much joy, peace, and warmth as we enter this season of reflection and giving, and my team and I are always here to connect on matters important to you and your drivers. Above all, we are so thankful for all you do to support safe delivery of goods across North America, and grateful to support you while you do it. Thank you!
Until next time, be safe and well.
~Leah
