Your impact goes further than you know
Thank you for supporting the American Traffic Safety Services (ATSS) Foundation and the promotion of roadway safety through charitable giving and public awareness programs. Your impact on industry workers and their families does not go unnoticed. Find out how much your support means from successes during the first half of 2024.
 Our Work Zone Safety Educational Activity Book received the prestigious 2024 Power of Associations Silver Award from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). Since its 2020 release, the 32-page workbook of activities, coloring and learning, has reached more than 30,000 students. The Activity Book teaches children the importance of recognizing and staying safe in construction work zones. The full news release describes how the contributions of ATSS Foundation and roadway safety supporters can make recognition like this possible.
The National Work Zone Memorial is updated annually to honor the names submitted by family, friends and coworkers of people lost in work zones. This year 17 names were added to the living tribute. The traditional Memorial has already traveled to 6 locations across the country in 2024, while the newer digital version has been gaining traction and was featured at 14 events this year. Your support by hosting, sponsoring or submitting a name to be included means that this Memorial tribute continues to help raise awareness of the need to respect and stay safe in America’s roadway work zones.
 The ATSS Foundation awarded $82,000 in Roadway Worker Memorial Scholarships to 12 students for the 2024-25 academic year, four of which are first-time recipients. Two recipients were also awarded a Chuck Bailey Memorial Scholarship for their volunteer work, valued at $1,000 each. These college or university students are awarded up to $10,000 in financial assistance to continue their educational dreams following the loss or permanent disability of a roadway worker parent or guardian in a work zone incident. Hear from one of this year’s recipients, Leah McCance of Broken Arrow, Okla., on how receiving the scholarship has made her attendance at university, “a lot less stressful.”
Two Roadway Worker Memorial Scholarship recipients were invited to attend a charity event held the day before the start of ATSSA’s 2024 Convention & Traffic Expo in California to directly show roadway safety professionals how much their help means to these future leaders. At the Foundation’s Sporting Clays Luncheon, Leah McCance spoke to attendees about studying elementary education at Oklahoma Baptist University. Leah was 2 years old in 2007 when her father, Joshua, was struck and killed while doing highway maintenance in a work zone. Sydney Parsons of Wenatchee, Wash., who attends Lower Columbia College with the goal of becoming a nurse, met with golfers at the Golf Classic Tournament. Sydney’s father, Brandon, was with her. In 2016, Brandon became permanently disabled after a motorist went around the paving crew’s pilot car and crashed into the paver he was in.
 The Marty Weed Engineering Scholarship offers two spots for newer engineers with a public agency to attend ATSSA’s Convention & Traffic Expo. James Smith with Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Mary McRae with Alaska DOT & Public Facilities attended the 2024 event. Smith was especially interested in smart work zones and connectivity issues, while McRae wants to improve her work zone knowledge and technical skills to ultimately get more people home alive.
Hosting an auction to benefit the ATSS Foundation is a great way for companies to contribute. Horizon Signal of Reading, Pa., is one of those companies, raising $38,000 in February from their online auction of two pieces of Automated Flagger Assistance Device (AFAD) safety equipment.
For the past eight years, 3M has sponsored a Toward Zero Deaths Pledge Wall to raise funds before and during ATSSA’s Convention & Traffic Expo. 2024 was no different and the pledge wall raised a total of $25,813, including 3M’s $5,000 match and $5,000 sponsorship.
 ATSSA chapters continue to support the ATSS Foundation by holding events and challenges. The Georgia ATSSA Chapter sponsored and arranged this year’s Hoops Mania basketball bracket challenge in March and invited all chapters and roadway safety supporters to participate. The challenge raised $550 in support of our programs. Indiana and Michigan ATSSA Chapters coordinated an inaugural fundraising event, the Crossroads Chapter Challenge: Great Lakes Battle of the Borders, also inviting Illinois and Ohio chapters to the May event in Indiana. More than $5,500 was raised. The Heart of America ATSSA Chapter hosted a fall 2023 fishing tournament and donated the $2,375 raised in early 2024.
None of these achievements would be possible without the unwavering support of donors, supporters and volunteers like you. Your commitment is the driving force behind our progress and success. Thank you for your continued dedication and for making a meaningful impact.
Warm regards,
Lori Diaz, CFRE
Director of ATSS Foundation
Visit our website to find more information and stay up to date with the ATSS Foundation.
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