Truckers Against Trafficking last week unveiled its 2019 Everyday Heroes Kenworth T680 at a press event in Washington, D.C.
Speakers at the event explained the importance of stopping human trafficking and the need to continue to raise awareness about the crime. Speakers included Kendis Paris, TAT executive director and co-founder; Kevin Baney, Kenworth assistant general manager of sales and marketing; Don Blake, new truck sales manager, Inland Kenworth – Phoenix; Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Arizona); Karl Racine, District of Columbia attorney general; and John McKown, UPS driver and TAT ambassador.
“The press conference was held to help raise awareness for human trafficking, and we accomplished that goal through our Everyday Heroes Kenworth T680 and the Freedom Drivers Project,” said Blake, who serves as a TAT board member. “There was even a local driver who passed by and decided to pull his rig over to check out our special truck. He was inspired after learning about the program, and wants to become TAT trained and to encourage others at his company to do so as well.”
To raise money to help fight human trafficking, the Everyday Heroes truck, valued at $162,000, will be auctioned off by Ritchie Bros. in Phoenix on May 17. Proceeds from the auction will go to help offset TAT program costs.
“Human trafficking is one of the greatest human rights violations of our time, and it is going to take every sector, both public and private, and every individual no matter their profession, playing a role in helping to bring freedom,” Paris said. “This Everyday Heroes truck stands as a symbol that the American trucking industry is dedicated to doing just that.”
Before the truck is auctioned off, it will make appearances at the American Trucking Associations’ Technology and Maintenance Council’s Annual Meeting in Atlanta on March 18-21 and the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville on March 28-30.