The Thomas Saf-T-Liner® C2 school bus will benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Coastal Carolina

HIGH POINT, N.C. — Thomas Built Buses has donated a Saf-T-Liner® C2 school bus to the Boys & Girls Club of Coastal Carolina. The bus was presented July 21 in conjunction with the Barta Boys & Girls Club Billfish Tournament in Beaufort, N.C., of which Thomas was one of the sponsors.

Thomas Built Buses has donated a Saf-T-Liner® C2 school bus to the Boys & Girls Club of Coastal Carolina. The bus was presented July 21 in conjunction with the Barta Boys & Girls Club Billfish Tournament in Beaufort, N.C., of which Thomas was one of the sponsors.

“This donation is huge,” said Leisa Fulton, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Coastal Carolina, which serves more than 900 children annually in Carteret and Craven counties. “For years we’ve had a beat-up old bus that seats only 25 kids. We’ve been afraid to take it too far out of town, so the new Thomas bus will open up new opportunities for us.” The inaugural trip for the new bus, which seats 65, transported kids to Beaufort for a day of ocean fishing on the opening day of the tournament.

The donated bus is a nearly-new demo unit of Thomas’ new C2 school bus, which debuted last fall. The C2 is a next-generation conventional school bus built for superior durability, reliability and safety. “In my 18-year career working with Boys and Girls Clubs, this is the most beautiful bus I’ve ever seen a club have,” said Fulton.

“When we began manufacturing the new C2 bus, we made a number of pre-series demo units for customers to test drive,” said Ken Dodson, vice president of engineering at Thomas Built Buses. “We wanted to give back to the community by donating these buses to worthy causes and the Boys and Girls Club of Coastal Carolina is certainly a worthy organization.”

The bus was presented on the opening day of the Barta Boys & Girls Club Billfish Tournament, the largest fundraiser of the year for the Boys & Girls Club of Coastal Carolina. The sport-fishing tournament, held July 21-23, was created last year by celebrity outdoorsman Tred Barta, host of the outdoor adventure program “The Best and Worst of Tred Barta,” which airs on the Outdoor Life Network.

“This year we were extremely excited to have a sponsor like Thomas Built Buses associated with the tournament,” said Cynthia Barber, director of the Barta Boys and Girls Club Billfish Tournament. “The goal of the tournament is to raise money to positively impact the lives of the children of the Boys & Girls Clubs, and this bus will provide that impact for many years to come.”

Thomas Built Buses is the leading manufacturer of school buses in North America, with more than one third of the school bus market in North America. Thomas Built Buses is a member of The Freightliner Group, the largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America and a leading manufacturer of class 3-8 vehicles. The Freightliner Group produces and markets commercial vehicles under the Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star, American LaFrance and Thomas Built Buses nameplates. The Freightliner Group is a unit of DaimlerChrysler, the world’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturer.