Recently, employees in the Cincinnati (CIN) Region participated in a “Touch-a-Truck” event at Morgan Elementary School in Hamilton, Ohio. CIN Line Driver Ken Frye approached Regional Human Resources Manager Cindy Emmons, asking if Saia could participate in the event, which was held at his daughter’s school.

Since “Community” is one of our core values, the event was the perfect opportunity to engage our local community, involving everyone in the region who offered their help, which demonstrated another core value, “Taking Care of Each Other.” Terminals across the region sent extra hats and past challenge coins, while sales donated items from the promo store. Marketing provided a Saia coloring page and CIN Terminal Manager David Axley ensured that we had a brand new, freshly-washed tractor and trailer along with the driver for the day. CIN Talent Acquisition Specialist Betty Robinson also helped assist Ken at the event.  

“The kids had an absolute blast,” stated Cindy. “There were approximately 400 kids at the event and they all were running around, proudly wearing their Saia hats! We think Ken lifted approximately 400 children into the truck that day! Saia’s name went home to a lot of households! We were so delighted to participate and are already talking about doing it again next year!”

In April, two Boy Scouts visited our Redding, California (RED) terminal to take a tour and ask some questions to earn their transportation badges. 

The RED employees embraced this opportunity in keeping with our core value of “Community,” assisting these young men to achieve their goal.

RED Lead City Driver Mike Underwood, along with City Drivers Roy Disney, Chad Tenney, and Trent Patton, took the time to explain every aspect of what all is behind the movement of goods across the country in our industry - from scanning every bill on the forklifts to the loading and unloading of both city and linehaul trailers.

The Scouts also had specific questions about the safe driving techniques that our drivers use out on the road. The questions were part of a five-part inquiry that corresponded directly with the Smith System. We were also able to show them our handhelds, how drivers maintain their logs, the dispatch board, and how we are able to communicate with drivers on the road.

They were very appreciative of the two hours we were able to spend with them. They even commented that they had no idea how much goes on behind the scenes in trucking.

It was a very positive experience for everyone involved and we were asked if we could do the same for other groups of Scouts, if any are interested, which we of course agreed to do as it helps younger generations learn about our industry. 

“A special thanks to Sacramento (SAC) Regional Sales Manager Shannon Tracy and SAC Terminal Manager Joe Myers for getting some Saia products together and sending them to Redding on short notice for the boys, who couldn’t believe we had backpacks full of gifts for them,” stated RED Terminal Manager Corey Cole.