Digging in Deep to Help the Community

“It’s showing people you care, that’s what it’s all about,” said Russell Haynes, Mechanical Supervisor of Virginia Paving Company in Norfolk, Va. Along with its parent company, Lane Construction, Virginia Paving is heavily involved in community fundraising efforts at all seven of their locations.

Past efforts have included sponsoring elementary school classes, hosting cookouts to raise money and bringing wrapped trucks to fundraising events. And their mindfulness doesn’t stop at philanthropy. “We use vendors in our community when we need truck parts and equipment,” said Haynes. “We buy local to help the economy grow.”

The latest example of Virginia Paving’s community mindedness is a Freightliner^® M2 106 dump truck wrapped in an attention-getting Autism Speaks design. Haynes says the colorful truck gets a lot of thumbs up while driving down the road, but its purpose is so much greater. “It’s not just about a pretty truck. It’s about that missing puzzle piece, about raising awareness and finding a cure.”

Although this M2 106 dump attends autism fundraising events, it is a working truck. Every day it is on the road, hauling asphalt out to jobs and material in from quarries. Virginia Paving does a lot of interstate projects, city schedule work, and other large projects including the Oceana Naval Air Station runway in Virginia Beach and the Dominion Boulevard Steel Bridge in Chesapeake, Va.

All of their trucks are equipped with the SmartPlex^® electrical system, which allows the addition of safety interlocks to help prevent injuries and equipment damage.

“We like the additional safety features available on these trucks,” said Haynes. “Like, if the driver fails to set the parking brake the horn blows, the windshield wipers stop when the rain stops, and there are orange seat belts so you can see if the drivers have them on. There are little things like that that mean a lot.”

In line with the company’s culture of keeping it in the community, the M2 106 Autism Speaks dump truck was wrapped by Eure Signs in Virginia Beach.

The Autism Speaks dump truck in front of Virginia Paving Company.