St. Christopher’s Trucker Development and Relief Fund (CTF) drew another $62,000 closer to its $1 million fundraising goal on Monday when MoLo Solutions shared its donation during a live chat on Monday’s episode of FreightWaves’ WHAT THE TRUCK?!? podcast.
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Knoxville, Tennessee-based CTF covers short-term expenses like mortgages, utilities, vehicle payments and insurance premiums for truckers forced off the road by illness or injury.
Shannon Currier, director of philanthropy and fundraising for CTF, was discussing the charity’s fundraising goal and its growing recognition as a direct source of help when T.J. Wysocki of MoLo commented that the Chicago-based freight brokerage was donating $50,000.
Beyond the goal
Actually, MoLo is giving more than $62,000 because of personal donations from its 210 employees.
“On Friday, it looked like we would not make our goal of $50,000” based on a pledge of $5 per load moved in May, MoLo CEO Andrew Silver said. The $48,740 on Friday rose to $50,130 by the time the monthly tally finished on Sunday.
Silver, who had made the company goal personal by putting the daily running total on the company’s general Slack channel, asked during a company meeting on Friday for employees to consider giving to help MoLo hit its CTF goal. A recorded Skype interview with Currier was shared earlier with MoLo employees to build enthusiasm.
“I didn’t know how much we would get,” said Silver, who will be a guest Friday on WHAT THE TRUCK?!? “When you’re in a pandemic and people are working from home, you try to create an opportunity to rally behind something.”
Silver knew MoLo competitor C.H. Robinson Worldwide (NASDAQ: CHRW) had donated $50,000 to CTF, and wanted to match the amount. Before settling on the per-load pledge, the company looked at other ways to raise money, including savings from free lunches that had been provided in the office before most employees began working from home.
“They’ve just been great to work with,” Currier said. “I had no idea what the dollar amount was going to be. They had a goal but there was no amount mentioned.”
Watch the full WHAT THE TRUCK?!? episode.