Pictured (L-R): Buck Chambers Coffee Community Foundation, Crissy Staley Wiregrass Executive Director of Fundraising, Elton Brooks Coffee Community Foundation, Mona Paulk Wiregrass Executive Director of Advancement, Francis Lott Wiregrass Foundation North Trustee and Coffee Community Foundation, Lindsay Day Coffee Community Foundation, Wyndall Walters Wiregrass Foundation North Trustee Chair, Beth Brooks Coffee Community Foundation, Joan Zimmer Coffee Community Foundation, Chris Tuten Wiregrass Foundation North Trustee and Coffee Community Foundation, Matt Hennesy Coffee Community Foundation, Lidell Greenway Wiregrass Vice President of Facilities, Bob Porter Wiregrass Foundation North Trustee and Coffee Community Foundation, Christy Manning Coffee Community Foundation, Bob Preston Coffee Community Foundation, and Curtis Farrar Coffee Community Foundation.

Douglas, GA – The Coffee Community Foundation is supporting fundraising efforts by Wiregrass Georgia Technical College Foundation North to raise funds to expand the Diesel Technician and Commercial Truck Driving programs on the college’s Coffee Campus with a lead gift of $200,000. The demand for graduates from both programs throughout the region and state is the driving force behind the need for this expansion. In South Georgia alone, there are more than 2,000 job openings for CDL drivers and more than 60 available positions for diesel technicians.

“Our Diesel Tech program is a direct response to industry need,” said Dr. Tina K. Anderson, President, Wiregrass Georgia Technical College. “Without Transpower we wouldn’t have a diesel tech program. They allow us to teach in their facility after hours because we don’t have our own facility to accommodate the program. In order to grow the diesel tech program to meet the demand of industry, we must establish our own facility so we can increase class offerings to day and evening students.”

Wiregrass Georgia Technical College Foundation North is working to raise $800,000 to construct a facility that will accommodate both the Diesel Technician and Commercial Truck Driving programs. The new training facility would be placed on the existing Wiregrass Truck Driving Range located on Baker Highway.

“The Coffee County Community Foundation is passionate about workforce development and supporting our current and future industry needs,” said Joan Zimmer, Chairwoman, Coffee Community Foundation. “Our Board is excited to partner with Wiregrass on this project, and we certainly hope other members of the community will embrace and support this project.”

If you are interested in learning more about this project, please contact Crissy Staley, Wiregrass Executive Director of Fundraising, at 229-333-2124 or Crissy.staley@wiregrass.edu.