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Truckers gear up for holiday season food drive

Truckers gear up for holiday season food drive

Trucking companies from across Atlantic Canada are banding together this holiday season to deliver thousands of pounds of food to people across the region.

The charity drive is a joint effort between the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association and Trucks for Change Network, a non-profit organization of truck companies that's delivered donated food and materials to Canadians across the country.

This is its second year operating in the East Coast and they're calling this year's edition "18 Wheels of Christmas in Atlantic Canada."

Last year they had a "modest" level of participation, says charity president and founder Pete Dalmazzi, with 25-30 companies running a roundup for food items.

Food collection begins Nov. 27

The 2016 drive gathered several thousand pounds of food as well as some financial contributions, but this year they're hoping for a greater level of interest and donations across the region, and for people to spread the word.

"We find in these things it's hard to have a goal because we're just doing it on a best efforts basis and it's hard to know," Dalmazzi said.

"If we end up with 20-25 thousand pounds of food between the four locations I think we'd be happy with that this year."

Midland Transport and Armor Transport were the "lead dogs" in wrangling up food items from across the region last year, he added, though he hopes more trucking companies jump on board to help deliver food items to the central food bank hubs in each province.

Pickup and delivery starts Nov. 27 and runs to Dec.11 and companies can register now to hold food drives and have what they gather picked up.

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