As the end of the year approaches, the Truckload Carriers Association is coordinating two publicity efforts aimed at highlighting TCA and the trucking industry to the general public. Both campaigns – a-Highway Angel of the Year award presentation and a television commercial about trucking’s support of the Wreaths Across America program – will be geared toward fans watching the uDrove Humanitarian Bowl. This year’s bowl, which kicks off Dec. 18th at 3:30 p.m. MST at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho, will feature the Fresno State Bulldogs against the Northern Illinois Huskies and will be broadcast on ESPN.
The first of the two-pronged publicity efforts relates to TCA’s Highway Angel program. For the third year in a row, Bowl sponsors are allowing TCA to tell the story of its Highway Angel of the Year to close to 30,000 fans in attendance. TCA Chairman John Kaburick will present Shawn Hubbard, a professional truck driver for Ruan Transport Corp., with a special trophy for heroism. Hubbard, acting almost entirely alone, pulled a trapped 23-year-old man from a burning car seconds before it became fully engulfed in flames.
As its second publicity effort, TCA has produced a 30-second television commercial highlighting the patriotism of the trucking industry. Scheduled to air during the first quarter of the bowl, the commercial will tell ESPN viewers about the role that TCA members play in Wreaths Across America, a nonprofit organization that oversees an annual weeklong campaign to honor fallen veterans. In fact, because of the trucking industry’s generosity, wreaths are escorted from Maine to more than 500 veterans cemeteries, including Arlington National Cemetery, every year. Along the way, the convoys stop at various schools and veterans rallies as part of the program’s mission to remember the fallen, honor those who serve in the military, and teach children the value of their service. On the second Saturday in December – designated by Congress as “Wreaths Across America Day” – the campaign concludes with special ceremonies at Arlington and other memorial sites.
“One of TCA’s goals has always been to ‘put a face behind the wheel,’ highlighting to large audiences the positives about the trucking industry and the men and women who move America’s freight,” Kaburick says. “Thanks to uDrove, we’ve significantly ramped up our Highway Angels’ visibility and exposure to the general public. We consider the wreath commercial as an extra opportunity to extend our outreach even further.”
The Highway Angel program will get an additional boost during the bowl’s pregame festivities, which will feature a performance by country star Lindsay Lawler. Her latest song, “Highway Angel,” was inspired by TCA’s program. For more information, go to www.truckload.org/Highway-Angel.
We are excited to partner with TCA to provide significant exposure to the positive humanitarian contributions of the trucking industry,” says Joel McGinley, president of uDrove/ “We are looking forward to hosting Shawn and giving him the hero’s welcome that he and the other Highway Angels deserve.”
