ISA Community Support Program & Vehicle Dynamics Institute “FILL THIS TRUCK” Program

ISA supports the Vehicle Dynamics Institute and the “FILL THIS TRUCK” Program for Louisiana Flood Victims

ISA community support program is born. 

@eptraining.us   
Updated 7/7/2024

ISA Community Support Program, tracing its beginning.

 In August 2016 Independent Security Advisors  (ISA) Chief Executive Officer Matthew Parker received a call from Mr. Joe Autera the President and CEO of the Vehicle Dynamics Institute. Joe and Larry Side the Vice President of Operations and Chief Instructor were going to Baton Rouge La as part of the “FILL THIS TRUCK” Program to provide much needed relief supplies to the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office. 

“Did Mr. Parker want to join them and help with driving and unloading the truck”. 

 Now ISA in 2016 was still a young company, there was work to be done. We had executive protection training programs to conduct and clients in need of services. Our CEO couldn’t just drop everything to drive a truck to Louisiana. We had no relationships in Baton Rouge, no clients, and there was no money in this so why even entertain the question. But that was just what he did. 

Being a newer company and our CEO just having left the military we didn’t know it was inappropriate to help others. We had yet to learn business was all about profit, market share and name recognition. After all, the media would be focused on VDI and Joe, so we should have said no.   

 

Instead Mr. Parker made the following calculations;
Joe and Larry were friends and mentors, so if a friend needs help you help.

It was a good cause, and helping people is also about serving your community, not media attention or profit. If Joe thought helping this community and this group of people was important then that’s good enough for us.  

And if you can pay it forward you do, someday it will come around.

 Not surprisingly Mr. Parkers calculations were correct. His friendship with Joe and Larry made the long hours of driving and the manual labor off loading the truck filled to capacity with relief supplies worth every minute. 

And helping the Sheriffs department of Baton Rouge meant helping the first responders who had taken care of others during the flooding, long before they even thought of themselves.

 

ISA CEO meets sheriff deputies from Baton Rouge
ISA CEO meeting the locals
https://www.wbrz.com/news/driving-instructor-and-students-donate-truck-load-of-supplies-to-ebrso-deputies 

So after hours on the road they arrived to a standing room only welcome by the Baton Rough Sheriffs office and local media. Joe and VDI were hailed as hero’s, and the attention to their efforts were well deserved, what Joe and Larry and the VDI team had amassed in supplies that filled the truck was amazing.

 But here is what is so impressive by what was accomplished, Joe and Larry didn’t care or seek out the attention, the goal was to help others, the people they were helping and the community they helped rebuild one home at a time probably never knew their names.

 One result of the VDI community relief efforts for Baton Rouge, and the first person experience of Mr. Parker seeing the results of this program is the creation of the ISA community support program as it exists today.

ISA has donated to cancer research for children, food pantries, animal rescue centers, youth programs, drives for school supplies, Fire rescue agencies and in Ukraine funded food and clothing centers for those displaced by the war and helped fund a center for children.

 

ISA CEO off loads relief supplies
ISA CEO off loads relief supplies

But all of that would be tomorrow, for now it was time to put muscles to work offloading the truck, and as Mr. Parker notes ” it’s the kind of labor you enjoy, because you know the sweat and fatigue is well worth it”.

For several hours the team off loaded construction materials, water, food, tarps, and on and on it went. Using hand carts, single carry, team carry, the supplies were unloaded. 

And then it was over. The truck was empty, swept out and prepared to be closed up for the drive back to New jersey.

There were no crowds, no media, just tired men finished with a difficult task. Mr. Parker, the ISA CEO had missed calls and emails, he had been out of the office for an extended period. Money had been spent, sleep missed and no business transacted that led to profit for our company. But in his own words, “it was a great day”.     

 

The Rest of the Story

 So with the offloading completed there was the obligatory group photo and an invitation to lunch. But that is when they noticed a flat tire from a curb on entering the parking lot that morning. So it was off to repair or replace a tire. 

Now with that accomplished the team was able to enjoy lunch with a number of deputies, collect its thoughts and get back on the road. It would be days of driving with an empty truck costing money in fuel and time.

But this was an acceptable expenditure of both because people had been helped. Not once did the VDI / ISA team ask about the second hand effects of this effort, the cost to get home.

 

Atlanta

Then just south of Atlanta a dash light illuminates, there is a problem with the batteries and charging system. no juice.  As they get closer to Atlanta the later and darker it gets, and at some point they will need fuel and to address the charging issue. 

After making through Atlanta they go to a truck center for repairs. Its closed. Not just closed for the day, its closed as in out of business. But the driving conditions are such they need to stop, so a call is made to an ISA affiliate in the trucking industry and a mobile repair team is dispatched. 

A belt is broken, so with a new belt, a few minutes of rest and some food they get back on the road. Mr. Parker was dropped off in South Carolina and the VDI team completes its journey home to New Jersey.  


  Second Hand Affects; ISA Community Support Program

As it was mentioned earlier, one result of this experience was the creation of the ISA community support program as it exists today. Here are just some of the organizations ISA has supported by donating proceeds from its executive protection training program. All of which can look back at August 2016 and thank the VDI “Fill a Truck” program that inspired our own program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food banks, national, regional and local

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Community based first responders and animal rescue

 

CSM Conklin stacking donations

ISA Community outreach program helps feed children and families

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School supplies and meals for children

 

Shriners for kids several times and to more animal groups.

VDIs Legacy

In total, Charities in Maryland, DC, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and to regional central east coast and national groups. 

Thanks to VDI in 2016 and our experience supporting them, ISA has donated over $6000.00 in financial assistance, $1500.00 in school supplies, and provided other support to charitable organizations. 

For more information on ISA community programs please visit https://www.eptraining.us/blog/