Giving Tuesday generosity sets new record for ATSS Foundation

Giving Tuesday generosity sets new record for ATSS Foundation

Donors launch end-of-year giving with an encouraging start

Giving Tuesday donations set a record for the third straight year, providing $20,730 for the American Traffic Safety Services (ATSS) Foundation during the one-day event held annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

Foundation Director Lori Diaz said she was grateful for everyone who donated, saying every dollar makes a difference.

“It’s always encouraging to see people’s generosity toward the ATSS Foundation. We know they have many charitable organizations they can support and that makes it even more meaningful to see they chose to support our work,” Diaz said. “Raising more than $20,000 in one day is extremely encouraging.”

The ATSS Foundation is the charitable arm of ATSSA. Its core purpose is to promote roadway safety through charitable giving and public awareness programs.

Foundation Board Member Margaret “Peggy” McGrath kicked off the giving with her offer to match the first $5,000 in donations. That offer was equaled by a $5,000 donation from the Arizona ATSSA Chapter (AZ-ATSSA). Donations of $10,730 from 26 additional donors brought the total to $20,730.

Giving Tuesday marks the start of end-of-year giving, a time when many individuals and companies enjoy sharing the financial success they achieved during the year. Many also appreciate the tax benefits of donating to nonprofits such as the ATSS Foundation by Dec. 31.

Diaz said the Foundation carefully stewards the funds provided to it and noted some of the ways it has affected lives the first 10 months of this year:

• Awarded 12 Roadway Worker Memorial Scholarships and two Chuck Bailey Memorial Scholarships for the 2024-25 academic year to the dependents of men and women killed or permanently disabled in work zone incidents.
• Added 17 names of workers killed in work zone incidents to the National Work Zone Memorial.
• Displayed the National Work Zone Memorial at eight locations, reaching more than 15,050 people. In addition, the digital Memorial was displayed at 16 events, reaching more than 4,450 people.
• Awarded two Marty Weed Engineering Scholarships to newer public agency engineers from the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) to attend ATSSA’s 2024 Convention & Traffic Expo.
• Offered Experience Camps Travel Scholarships to help children grieving a parent, sibling or caregiver lost to a roadway work zone incident.
• Experienced an outreach to more than 57,500 children through its award-winning children’s Work Zone Safety Educational Activity Book. This included 96 unique downloads of the book with a reach of more than 56,514 children and purchase of 1,002 printed copies of the activity book that teaches children about work zone safety.
• Saw its free National Work Zone Safe Teen Driver course completed by 5,569 teens, ages 15-19.
• Provided five $500 Foundation-sponsored scholarships to students who completed the National Work Zone Safe Teen Driver program.

Donations are accepted throughout the year and can be designated for one of the programs above or through planned giving and workplace giving in addition to Giving Tuesday.

“End-of-year giving is a big help to finish the year strong and begin looking to 2025,” Diaz said. “Unfortunately, the needs continue to grow to support the families of roadway workers killed or permanently disabled in work zone incidents.

“We would love to get to the point where our help is not needed, but we aren’t there yet.”