A bright yellow JCB 3CX backhoe loader – a giant tractor – hit the road on a 26-day, coast-to-coast fundraising road trip to help rebuild Haiti.
The backhoe loader bagman its coast-to-coast trek from the beach at Tybee Island, Ga., on Friday, March 26, 2010. The backhoe then traveled more than 3,000 miles across the U.S., making fundraising pit stops at JCB dealerships in nine cities along the way, before reaching its final destination – the beach at California’s Santa Monica Pier – on April 20.
It was greeted at the pier by Firefighter, members of the local chapter of the American Red Cross, and other members of the community.
JCB, one of the word’s largest manufacturers of construction equipment, hoped the “Backhoe Across America” cross-country campaign will both remind Americans that Haiti’s long road to recovery is only just beginning, and encourage them to show their continued support – either by visiting one of the 11 featured route stops or by visiting www.JCBForHaiti.com to make a donation. JCB aims to help raise $1 million for the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund.
“Haiti’s road to recovery will be long and difficult,” said John Patterson, chairman and CEO, JCB Inc. “On behalf of everyone at JCB, we hope that the miles traveled and donations secured during Backhoe Across America will help ease the burden of the journey that lies ahead for this devastated nation.”
Neil Smith, a 37th year with JCB, operated the 3CX machine from start to finish, traveling at speeds up to 30 mph on secondary roads, which, by law, must be used throughout the trek due to the backhoe’s maximum speed limitations.
No Ordinary Backhoe
On a recent episode of the National Geographic and Discovery Channel show, ‘Greatest Ever’, the JCB backhoe was ranked number-one on a list of the “Greatest Ever Earthmovers.” With the Backhoe Across America campaign, JCB put the Worlds Greatest Earthmover to an even greater test to see just how far a bucketful of charity could go to help the Haitian people rebuild their lives.
JCB invented the backhoe loader in 1953; today, the company is the world’s leading manufacturer of this versatile and reliable job-site solution, producing almost one out of every two backhoes sold worldwide. In keeping with the company’s long tradition of assisting disaster-relief efforts around the world, JCB already has donated two backhoe loaders in response to Haiti’s immediate recovery needs. And, most recently, JCB pledged to provide $100,000 worth of backhoe equipment for Chile’s earthquake victims.
