Emmett McCormick (Age 5), pretends to drive a Front Loader truck at the 2017 Touch a Truck. Photo: Kelly Brouillette.
Doors open again this year at the Pontchartrain Center on Saturday, November 17th for the 7th Annual Touch a Truck Fundraiser. With last year’s turnout breaking the attendance record with 2,400 guests, this year's participants should expect to celebrate with over 3,000 fellow attendees taking the opportunity to crawl all over fire trucks and emergency vehicles, get behind the wheel of dump trucks and tractors, and learn about the important services these machines and their operators provide to Southern Louisiana.
Due to its success last year, Field Trip Friday returns on Friday, November 16 from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. providing local students the opportunity to participate in the event and meet the heroes that operate the featured vehicles. The League provides 500 free students tickets through Field Trip Friday reserved for visitors from under-served schools that might not otherwise have the opportunity to participate in the event.
Touch a Truck is open to the public from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday, November 17 for children approximately four to nine-years-old. Ticket sales begin at the Pontchartrain Center that morning at 9 a.m. Discounted tickets can be purchased in advance at www.jlno.org/touch-a-truck. At the door, tickets are $15 each or $60 for a Family Pack. Children under a year enter for free. A ticket will earn each guest entrance to the Pontchartrain Center and access to all his or her favorite “big trucks”, face-painting, food by local vendors and the chance to meet the people behind the wheels of these machines that build and serve our community.
Through its tickets sales, vendor participation and donations, Touch a Truck expects to continue its impact on the Greater New Orleans area with its 7th Annual fundraiser this November. Funds raised go to several of the League’s core causes including the League’s Diaper Bank, Scholarship Fund, the Women Entrepreneur Fellows and Covenant House partnership, among many other worthy charitable programs both within the League and throughout the community. Not only did the event raise over $45,000 last year for those JLNO programs, Touch a Truck also offers a chance to connect community members to the people that work hard to protect and build Greater New Orleans. Altogether Touch a Truck offers the League the privilege to provide the community over 40,000 volunteer hours to help 13,000 residents through 80 different volunteer opportunities, 50 training programs and 40 non-profit partnerships.
Please contact the 2018 Touch a Truck co-chairs Sarah Howard & Lizzie Frein at touchatruck@jlno.org for more information about how to get involved.
Sarah Howard (2017 Vice Chair), Nicole Patel (2017 Chair) and Emily Lewis (2017 Chair) pose with Sir Saint. Photo by: Kelly Brouillette
