Coca-Cola United Donates Two Trucks to Alabama Community College System
Coca-Cola Bottling Company United has donated two tractor-trailer trucks to the Alabama Community College System for its commercial driver license program.
The company donated two 16-bay side-load, manual transmission trucks on Tuesday in Montgomery. It’s Coca-Cola United’s first donation of its kind to a community college system. The company operates in Alabama and five other states.
“We’ve got such a great company,” Gianetta Jones, Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer for Coca-Cola Bottling Company United said. “We love to serve communities in which we operate, so we’re really just blessed to do this.”
Discussions started two years ago on the need for more trucks to train drivers. Orders for trucks that colleges had placed were delayed at a time they were seeing student numbers increase.
“These trucks will help benefit so many students,” David Walters, Alabama Community College System Vice Chancellor, said.
Truck driving is among the fastest growing programs in the ACCS. Alabama’s community colleges have more than 20 truck driving programs. Nearly 10,000 residents sought credentials within these programs in the last five years.
Jones said both of the donated trucks are outside the life cycle for the company’s fleet but are still valuable for both on-road and off-road manual transmission CDL training.
The trucks will be housed at Trenholm State Community College in Montgomery and Southern Union State Community College in Opelika.
