ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The NATSO Foundation premiered a new online learning initiative designed to strengthen the nation’s truckstop and travel plaza industry by delivering comprehensive educational and safety training materials to truckstop owners, operators and employees.
With an initial focus on “How Truckstops Help People,” the NATSO Foundation’s first online training suite will offer four e-learning courses designed to help teach members of the truckstop and travel plaza industry how to respond to requests for help from people in need of assistance in various life-threatening scenarios.
“We are excited to deliver online education to the nation’s truckstop and travel plaza community,” said NATSO Foundation president and CEO Lisa Mullings. “Through the NATSO Foundation’s online training tools, truckstops nationwide now will have a new avenue for strengthening their knowledge base and supplementing their own employee training. Equipping truckstops and their staff with accessible online education will play a key role in helping truckstops improve and grow for the future, ensuring the vitality of the truckstop industry as a whole.”
The first module titled “The Role of Truckstops in Combating Human Trafficking” launched today in support of National Human Trafficking Awareness month. The course is available on the NATSO Foundation’s new learning management system free of charge so that any member of the truckstop and travel plaza industry can leverage these educational resources.
The course can be accessed at www.natso.com/onlinelearning.
“Truckstop owners, operators and employees often find themselves in a position to help people with more than just their basic needs of food, fuel and rest,” said NATSO Foundation Chairman Jenny Love Meyer. “We’re taking meaningful action to ensure that the truckstop industry is prepared to respond. The truckstop and travel plaza industry takes seriously the fight against human trafficking, and our goal is to provide our members with the tools they need to train their staff so that those individuals are equipped to help if they encounter a victim of this horrible crime.”
A second module titled “How Truckstops Help the Homeless” will be available in coming weeks. Additional courses planned for the “How Truckstops Help People” series will focus on what to do for drivers who are suffering distress and how to respond during a natural disaster.
While the NATSO Foundation’s online education courses are available to anyone in the nation’s truckstop and travel plaza community, a userID and password to NATSO's website is required.
Alexandria, Va.-based NATSO is the trade association founded in 1960 as the National Association of Truck Stop Operators. It represents the travel plaza and truckstop industry on legislative and regulatory matters; serves as the official source of information on the industry; provides education to its members; conducts an annual convention and trade show; and supports efforts to generally improve the business climate in which its members operate.
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