Music – Whether you’re hitting the road or kicking back in the cab, it’s time to take a load off with BigRigBanter, powered by AllTruckJobs.com, your source for finding the trucking jobs drivers really want. Get ready to shift into gear and let the conversations roll.
Troy: Alright, hello and welcome, truckers! The date is November 7th, and it is the 21st episode of BigRigBanter, your favorite trucking podcast. I’m your co-host, Troy Diffenderfer.
Lenay: And I’m your favorite co-host, Lenay Ruhl.
Troy: Lenay, how are you doing today?
Lenay: I’m pretty good, how are you?
Troy: I’m doing good! I think it’s been an exciting month lately. It’s been a wild ride, that’s for sure.
Lenay: Yeah, yeah. I heard you had a good road story for us that happened to you this week.
Troy: Yeah, this past week I was actually in New York City driving through Times Square, so that was definitely overwhelming and exciting. Truckers, if any of you have ever driven through Times Square we’d love to hear about it, so make sure to let us know on Facebook or Twitter, but it was definitely an experience. You meet some very aggressive drivers, that’s for sure, and aggressive people walking on the crosswalk, so it was definitely an exciting time.
Lenay: So did you end up driving through Times Square on purpose, or did you just accidentally end up in Times Square while you were driving in New York City?
Troy: Oh, no, I had to get to dinner. We ate dinner at this really cool restaurant and I usually like driving to restaurants myself, so I ended up making my way through Times Square dodging all the bikers and the other trucks and cars, and it definitely makes you pay attention to your driving, that’s for sure.
Lenay: Yeah, you kind of feel like you’re in a video game a little bit, right?
Troy: Yeah, and definitely the Holland Tunnel was an experience in itself in that it’s two lanes and you’re pretty compact in there, and all I could think about was how terrifying it would be if my car broke down in the middle of it.
Lenay: Yeah I’ve actually never driven through that tunnel, but I have driven around Chicago, which is pretty crazy. It’s like, six lanes really fast. I ran every single toll, so I’m probably wanted in Illinois for that.
Troy: Well, if the state of Illinois is listening, be sure to get in touch with me. I know where Lenay works, so if you’re giving out her award, shoot me an email. I’ll let you know where she is.
Lenay: Thanks, Troy…
Troy: Yeah! (Laughs) Let’s jump into our episode. Lenay, I know the season of giving is approaching, and during our research for this episode, which is on trucking charities, we saw just how many awesome charities there are out there that support truckers, and I know you had the chance to speak with a few.
Lenay: Yeah! I talked to a couple charities. I was surprised that both of the charities that I talked to actually help drivers, like when something happens to them on the road, either get them home or get their families to them, so I was really impressed. I had no idea there was such a need for that in the trucking community. What about your interview?
Troy: It was really cool! It was helping truckers that might have health issues, might be struggling, might have to take some time off work, and they help them financially, and that was really cool. But I think your favorite interview you did was these truckers volunteering to send these furry little friends around the U.S.
Lenay: Oh yes! So when I was at the Great American Trucking Show in August, I actually got to talk to Operation Roger, and basically, truckers volunteer to help them transport pets to new owners, so that was really cool and I’m excited to finally get that interview on the air.
Troy: For sure! And you know, folks, if you haven’t heard our Great American Trucking Show episode, make sure to check that out, but why don’t we kick off with that interview? Lenay, why don’t you introduce us to who you talked to at Operation Roger?
Lenay: Alright, yeah, give this interview a listen. It’s me and Sue talking at the Great American Trucking Show. It might be hard to hear because we recorded this at the show, which is pretty loud so you might need to turn your volume up.
Music
Lenay: Alright, this is Lenay Ruhl and I’m here at GATS with Sue Wiese from Operation Roger. She’s going to tell us a little bit about what they do. Hi Sue, how are you today?
Sue: Good morning, we’re doing fine. We’re just happy to be here at GATS. They have been so good to us over the years, so we’re happy to be back.
Lenay: And how many years have you attended GATS?
Sue: We’ve been here about four, maybe five years.
Lenay: Alright very cool! And can you tell us a little bit about what Operation Roger does?
Sue: Operation Roger Truckers Pet Transport is an all-volunteer truck driver organization. When I say “truck driver,” you think of 18-wheelers. It can be the hot shots, it can be pickups that are pulling travel trailers, but as long as there is a driver who loves pets and is willing to put them on their truck and take care of them, that they’re in the cab with the drivers. They sleep with them if they allow them to, they give them companionship, they act as guards for the trucks; we’ve even had a guard cat! The driver would go to sleep and put her curtains around, and that cat would patrol, and if someone came too close to her truck, the growl was so loud it would wake the driver, so that’s a guard cat. So, it’s any domestic pets, whether it be dogs, cats, we’ve done chinchillas, two tarantulas (laughs). As long as they’re small and can be into the truck and the drivers will take them. We’ve been asked if we’ll take snakes. If there’s a driver who will do it, yes. It might be few and far between, but it can be done (laughs).
Lenay: Awesome! How long as Operation Roger been in existence?
Sue: We will have our 13th anniversary as of September 16th, next month.
Lenay: Alright, very cool! And how can drivers get involved with Operation Roger? What are some ways people can help you with your mission?
Sue: Drivers can call me, they can put in an application on our website, which is OperationRoger.com, that’s all, there’s nothing else in it. Just OperationRoger.com. To know you’ve got the right site, there is a cartoon flatbed with some puppy doggies on it. And that is so you know you’ve got the right place. All the instructions of how to get registered, logged in, for finding the truck driver application, it’s all there. Scrolling down that long page, it’s an older page, I have to apologize for it, but it will tell just who we are and how we work. Basically, all I ask of the drivers is that there is a weekly drivers meeting that we want them to come to every week because that’s where you can actually hear other drivers; it’s a conference call. We have the requirements of them keeping in touch with me twice a week, and that means I want to know where you are, where you’re going, and when you’re going to be there because otherwise, how can I know if I get an application in, where you are? And I’m the only one, and I have a backup that knows this, it’s not out for public information. So it’s not for trying to track you in any way, it’s for the purpose of just knowing if a pet needs a ride, that so and so is going along that route. On the individual part of those who are at home, rescues, those who work with animals, who love pets, preferably one driver will pick up and deliver. If that doesn’t work, well the next possible driver to drive her. If that doesn’t work, well, there’s a gap, and in that gap is what we call a layover home. It’s an individual who is willing to take a pet, and they know all about that pet. They get to choose whether or not they take it, and then they take care of that pet until the next driver comes through. And in doing so, these pets that have come out of dire situations that have been abused, they’ve been turned around to be loving, great pets by the time they reach their rescue home. Their fur-ever home. That’s F-U-R ever home (laughs). And that’s how you can get involved. There’s other ways, but that’s the main way that we need right now, and it’s just very desperate that we need more drivers. We need more truckers. We need more who can…even the airline personnel for smaller pets, things like this. There’s many ways. We work with Pilots and Paws, but they can only go 300 air miles, and we can’t get to airports and they can’t get to us, you know? So, if you’ve got some way you feel you can help these pets, either the rescues or they’ve been pet-napped and getting back home, they’ve been in car accidents getting back home. You’ve got a military person that is in need of his or her animal that makes them be better, and it doesn’t have to be military. It’s also individuals that we’ve worked with. We try to get them back. So it’s a pet that needs a ride.
Lenay: So, can you tell me how you came up with the name “Operation Roger?”
Sue: Well when I went on an XM trucking live radio show, this was before Sirius and XM merged, I asked the question: “are there any drivers interested in an operation of moving pets across the country?” Well from that it was “operation,” from that word, then my own personal pet that had died the previous June was named Roger. So, the people who were involved thought that would be the correct name for it, so it became Operation Roger Truckers Pet Transport.
Lenay: And what inspired you to start this organization?
Sue: Does anybody remember Katrina? If you do, can you remember how you felt about all the horror stories you were hearing about all these pets and the people who wouldn’t leave their homes? It just broke my heart. I was a driver at that time and I was going down the highway, and I was praying and had my hands on the wheel and I said, “Lord, what can I do? I’m just a truck driver.” And I heard one word in my head and that was “transport.” And I go, “What? Huh? What are you talking about?” But as I went on PetFinder.com, at that time they had an area where rescues could put their information wanting people to transport, so we went on there and I put what we did. So, this was the beginning. It’s God’s ministry to his four-legged critters and any two-leggeds who want it. That’s how it came about. We are just the hands-on that make it happen.
Lenay: Well, you do amazing work. Thank you so much for sharing with us today.
Music
Lenay: Alright, and thanks again to Sue at Operation Roger for taking time to chat with me at the busy trucking show. I really appreciated that.
Troy: Yeah and you know Lenay, actually that’s how I got Bowie, my cute, adorable little dog. We actually used a similar service. He came all the way from a dog rescue in Arkansas, was driven by a trucker all the way up to Pennsylvania, and you’ve met him and you know how adorable and cute he is. I’ll be sure to post a picture on social media for you truckers out there.
Lenay: Yeah, Bowie is adorable. I got lots of puppy kisses earlier this week.
Troy: Yeah, so I’ll be sure to post something. And truckers, it’s definitely something to think about doing. It’s such a great charity to be a part of. There’s multiple types of services like these, so if you want to be around animals and do something good for a lot of these pet rescues, this is the charity for you, that’s for sure.
Lenay: Yeah, and the rest of the charities that we talked about, though, are doing something good for you guys, for the truck drivers out there, which is really cool. So, the next interview we have is Truckers Final Mile. I actually learned about this organization while I was at the Great American Trucking Show too, and we got to touch base just a few weeks ago, so give a listen to that interview.
Music
Lenay: Alright, my name is Lenay Ruhl and I’m here today with Robert Palm, founder of Truckers Final Mile. Robert, how are you today?
Robert: I’m well Lenay, thank you.
Lenay: Thank you for taking time to chat with me today! For those of you listening, I actually met Robert a few months ago at the Great American Trucking Show, and now we’re finally getting a chance to sit down and chat. Robert, why don’t you give everyone a general overview of what Truckers Final Mile does?
Robert: Well, TruckersFinalMile.org is a 501(c)(3) charity organization, and what we do is we assist North American truck drivers and their family in a time of a crisis. We have six programs that we currently operate. You know, if a driver passes away on the road away from home or if there’s a severe injury or if there’s a sudden onset medical episode such as a heart attack or stroke, something along those lines. We also assist in helping bring a driver home when there’s an emergency involving a member of his or her household, and we’ve got a mobility program that helps build wheelchair ramps that have lost his or her career, and we started a new program in October of this year which is a grief counseling program.
Lenay: And are there other resources like this out there that are available for drivers? What inspired you to start doing this?
Robert: That’s a whole bunch of questions right there (laughs). Other resources out there that may be available are limited or unknown to us. We believe that ours are unique to the industry, and they’re distinctly designed for the truck driving individuals that are out there behind the wheel. As far as when it was started, we began in April of 2014 is when we got our corporation in order and our IRS documentation for 501(c)(3).
Lenay: Very cool, and just to put this into context for everyone listening, I understand that you are a driver, and how long have you been driving?
Robert: I’ve been in the trucking industry in one form or another since 1981. Over the road driver, local driver, driving instructor, and I am currently an independent contractor leased on with RoadRunner Freight in Dallas, Texas.
Lenay: Oh, okay. And so, what inspired you to start the Truckers Final Mile? I know there’s a story behind that.
Robert: Yeah, there’s a story behind it, and I don’t know how much time we have available, Lenay, but I’ve been driving or in the industry for 38 years, and a lot of my life experiences were behind the idea of each of the programs that we operate. In 1993, my family had to recover my brother that was killed in a trucking accident in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Myself, I was involved in a serious accident in Columbus, Ohio in 1997 where I was in a trauma center for several weeks. And in each of these cases with my step brother and myself, we were hundreds of miles away from home when this happened, and there was no assistance from either of our companies, so our family had to get everything together and do it ourselves. I’ve had my appendix removed while I was out on the road away from home after it didn’t want to agree with me anymore, I’ve had other surgeries, emergency surgery where I was out on the road, and those experiences coupled with a rescue that I did of a young lady that rolled her tanker in front of me in 2012, and holding onto her waiting for first responders. Those experiences, and then a little tap on the shoulder from the Lord, you know, God said: “Bob, there’s something else you need to be doing.” And after a year of research and looking into this, we applied for the corporation and then the paperwork for the 501(c)(3), and here we are.
Lenay: Alright, and you say “we,” I guess you have some help with this then?
Robert: Yeah, myself and my ex-wife are the corporation, and when my son turns 18 he’ll be taking over her position, and then we have a full board of directors that are all volunteer board of directors. We have three people on the board. So when I say “we,” I’m referring to the organization.
Lenay: Alright and so, when the truckers or their families reach out to the organization for help, do you get to interact with them directly? I mean, I’m sure with your personal experience that’s really helpful.
Robert: Well, I am the founder of this organization, and it’s my baby, so to speak, and I want everything to be done properly and correctly. So, yes, I speak with every family that comes to us for assistance.
Lenay: That’s amazing. I was on your website reading down the first couple entries of the people that you’ve helped, shockingly, just this month. Do you keep tabs, or do you keep count of how many families you’ve been able to assist over the years?
Robert: Yes, we do. Thus far this year, throughout all of our programs we’ve assisted 50 families, and we’re on an increase over last year. Last year we assisted 54, and 30 percent of those that we assist are our former military because, you know, there’s a lot of veterans in the trucking industry.
Lenay: I do know that! I’ve actually been working on a project this month just gathering information from different trucking companies, like how many veterans they employ and why they hire veterans, so that’s been on my radar as well. So, since the holidays are approaching, I know that you have something on your website about the Sleigh Bells and Santa Program, so do you want to just talk about that a little bit? Because I know that’s a little unique from the other programs that you offer.
Robert: Well, Sleigh Bells and Santa is just…it’s family. You know, everybody out here in the trucking industry’s family; we’re all brothers and sisters, and we developed Sleigh Bells and Santa. This will be our fourth year doing this, and what we do is we just reach out to all of our donors and our followers on social media, and we ask them to mail us an unwrapped gift that we can distribute to the children that lost a mom or dad out on the road. Our Santa Claus, if you would, can’t bring mom or dad back, but we can give a gift, maybe it’s something simple, maybe a bicycle, maybe some movies or video games, something like that that can occupy the child on Christmas Day and give them a moment knowing that the trucking family still cares about their loss. And we’ve discovered in the last couple years that that actually also gives the surviving spouse or partner a few moments of reflection. So, we ask anybody that wants to, a new, unwrapped gift that we could give to a child. They can mail it to our headquarters in Albuquerque, it’s 3301-R Coors Blvd #293 Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87120. We ask that that’s done by December 14th so that we can then distribute the gifts to the children. And it doesn’t have to be just the children of our clients that we’ve served. If someone wanted to suggest a child or refer a child, they could send an email to [email protected] with all their contact and verifying information, and we’ll check it out and put those children on the list, and we’ll make sure everyone gets at least one gift. Like I said, it’s not a lot. We’re wanting to grow it into something that hasn’t been there yet, but we do like to do that every year.
Lenay: Yeah, that’s a really special and unique way to reach out to those children because a lot of times I’m sure, they’re used to their family members being out on the road but it’s different when they never come home.
Robert: Right, exactly. You know, we’re all about being family. I drive a truck, I know what it’s like to be gone on the birthdays and the baseball games and all of those things that go along with not being home, when there’s an important event happening at home. You know, “why is Daddy never at the PTA meetings?” “When is Mom going to be done with her run?” or a sister or aunt, or an uncle or something. We want to see them for the holidays. We want to have them there at the Thanksgiving table or whatever, so we developed this, And, like I said, it’s a small thing, it’s just for the kids that lost a mom or dad out on the road away from home, and we want to give them something to let them know that our greater family out here really cares about them and wants to do something nice for them. So that they know that they’re still loved, and we understand their loss.
Lenay: Yeah, and I know you gave that address a little bit earlier, so I’ll be sure to put that in the notes of the podcast so that the listeners can find that if they want to get involved.
Robert: I appreciate that, and we put that out there on social media. We’ve had a couple of…I do have a flyer for that. I could PDF it to you at a later date.
Lenay: Alright, cool. What are some ways that you promote your organization? You know, when families are in crisis, how do they reach you or find out about you?
Robert: Well, social media has been successful for us. We have gotten the word out there quite a bit; we’ve got a large following on social media, and a lot of the referrals that we get are word of mouth. A driver would have seen something on social media, they would have head about it or something like that, and it trickles down to where when a family has a need and they put a request out there, who can I call? What happens now? Because there are so many questions after a loss of life, especially when they’re far away from home: what to do, what permits, etc. And friends and other people in groups and everything on social media, they’ll say, “Hey, why don’t you look up Truckers Final Mile and see what they could do for you?” There’s things that we do not do. You know, if a driver’s been terminated or quits a job or whatever, we just don’t have the funds to be able to get people home in that type of situation, but if there’s a heart attack or stroke and you’re 850-1,000 miles from home and you’re hospitalized, our goal is to get your spouse’s hand into yours because you gotta have a conversation. If you have a heart attack and you go in for a bypass, for example, and you’re 850 miles away from home, he or she can’t just hop in a car and go across town and see you. So, we like to get the spouse or partner to the driver’s bedside when they’re initially hospitalized so they can have a conversation and make a plan because you’re not going to have a paycheck in three or four weeks. And then, once you sit there with your spouse and you’re holding hands, and that person is believing that you’re gonna be better and that things are gonna be okay, well then he or she could go home and begin to implement that plan. Whether you’ve got to contact another organization, you’ve gotta sit with the landlord, you’ve gotta talk to the utilities…all of that starts coming into play, and if that plan could be implemented properly, believe it or not, the healing process can already begin. And then when the trucker has been released from the hospital’s care, we help get him or her home so that they can be with their loved ones and get better faster.
Lenay: Yeah, and that’s really important. I mean, when somebody has a heart attack or any medical issue, not just the emotional turmoil that you go through but just trying to figure out bills and the health care system, you know, there’s so much stress.
Robert: Yeah, and if you’re sitting there with your spouse holding hands, it goes a lot easier. You know, we try to get the spouse on a plane or whatever we can to get him or her to your side, and then you make that plan, get him or her back home to implement that plan, and then when you’re released from the hospital, help get you home within the guidelines of your physician and your rehab team. Yeah, so we work with all of those groups together to make this work better for the driver. It’s all about the driver and the driver’s family.
Lenay: Very good! And you’re talking about flights and all these travel expenses so I mean, that’s not a cheap investment to make, so that brings me to thinking about donations and ways that people can help fund your organization. Do you want to talk about that a little bit?
Robert: Yes, absolutely. First and foremost, our donors make this happen. We use our Facebook page, it’s Facebook truckersfinalmile.org. We’ve developed that page as a, I guess you could say a newsletter. We keep everyone up to date on what’s happening with their money because we’re just the stewards of their money. We’ve written the programs, we’ve written all the policies and the rules and the restrictions for those programs so that when a donor does donate, they’re confident that the purpose behind that donation is being fulfilled. You don’t want to just donate someplace and never see or hear a word about it ever again. We keep them up to date on a constant and regular basis on Facebook. We tell them: okay right now, this person is in need because of this situation, or right now we have this person that we’re trying to assist and we need your donation, or share it or whatever the case may be. Our followers on Facebook and our donors and potential donors and other interested parties, they’re all up to date as to what’s going on. Donations are the most important thing. Asking people for their money to help others is a task that’s difficult at times, and we understand. I know what it’s like to be a truck driver out on the road too, I know what the income is and isn’t out here, so we need sponsors. Sponsors are great. They help us to build a reserve so that we have the funds when a family calls and says, “I need to get so-and-so home from wherever he or she may be because of this emergency.” You know, we just had a major hurricane down in the Gulf Coast. There’s drivers that don’t have a home anymore. Those drivers need to be home to get with those agencies in that area that provide shelter for their families. You don’t want them out on the road thinking about that behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound rig. So, we encourage donations, we encourage recurring donations because that way your donation happens every month. Figure out what your budget is and say, “okay, I’m going to donate $120 this year to Truckers Final Mile,” make a $10 donation and click on the recurring button to make it recurring, and then we get that $10 every month for the year. That way it’s continuous because our need is continuous to have donations like that.
Lenay: Right, and so, for people that want to donate, they should go on your website to do that?
Robert: Yes, they can go on the website, http://www.truckersfinalmile.org/. Up in the upper left corner, upper right corner, and in the center of the page are donate buttons, or you can go underneath the donations tab. The donations tab will list a myriad of ways that you can donate, whether you want to do it with a credit card, if you want to use PayPal, if you want to use your investment portfolio that you might have there’s options there, if you want to donate a vehicle…there’s a whole list of ways to donate.
Lenay: And for the truckers and their families who are listening who might need to use your services, what’s the best way to get in touch with you when there’s a crisis?
Robert: The best way to get ahold of us is by the 888-857-7871 phone number. That phone number gets answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Or, there’s a contact page on our website, http://www.truckersfinalmile.org, there’ll be a tab there for “contact us,” and there’s a form there that you could fill out and it comes direct by email. Our email is checked multiple times a day but not continuously, so if there’s an hour or three of lag time in getting back to you, that’s why. Because our emails just can’t be answered 24/7. Our phone is though.
Lenay: Alright, yeah, so the fastest way to get you guys is to call you on the phone?
Robert: Right, right. Absolutely.
Lenay: Alright, is there anything else that you’d like to add about Truckers Final Mile before we wrap up?
Robert: Well, I’d like to invite everybody to check out our page, I’d like everybody to check out, like, and follow our Facebook page. There are rare instances where we do get on Twitter. The Twitter handle is @finalmiledotorg, so you could follow us there. Keep up to date, see what we’re doing because we keep everyone informed. We want this to be very transparent, and we invite everybody to reach out, ask questions. All of our comments on social media are open. We don’t block anybody or anything. You’ll see how we operate, and if you do your job and you check us out and you feel that we’re worthy of your donation and your support, well we need it and we appreciate it.
Lenay: Alright, and I think I speak for everyone when we say that we appreciate you dedicating your time to do something like this. It’s a good cause for you to do, not just for the truckers and their families, but for your personal reasons as well.
Robert: Well it’s like I said, the Lord tapped me on the shoulder and he said “Robert, there’s something else that you need to be doing and this is it,” and that’s what it’s all about. He led me down this path, and I’m sure he’s going to make sure that we do it right. We want to help as much as we can, but please understand we can only help when we have the funds to do so. There’s no large reserve, there’s no big bank or anybody behind us at the present time, although we wish there were some days. Like I said, it would be great to have more sponsors, and it would be great to have continuous donations. We need them, and in order to continue doing what we do, it’s growing every year. There’s more and more requests, there’s more and more awareness out there, so we appreciate anyone that would donate. We appreciate that.
Lenay: Yeah, well there’s definitely more drivers on the road so that makes sense. I’m really glad that our paths crossed, and hopefully, this will help you get the word out there. But thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with me today.
Robert: Thank you, Lenay. I appreciate you very much.
Music
Lenay: Alright, and thanks again to Robert Palm from Truckers Final Mile for taking time to talk with me.
Troy: Yeah, and let’s just roll right into another interview. Lenay, I had the chance to sit down with Shannon Courier, the director of philanthropy and development from St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund, and this is a great charity. I know truckers, we can’t always be healthy 100 percent of our career, so this is a charity that will provide financial assistance for those truckers that might be out of commission from anywhere from a week to a few months. They’ll give you the financial assistance you need to make it through that tough time while you recover from whatever ailment or injury you have, so let’s listen to Shannon and see what the St. Christopher Trucker Relief Fund is all about.
Music
Troy: Alright, I’m here with Shannon Courier, the director of philanthropy and development at St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund. Shannon, how are you doing today?
Shannon: I’m great, Troy, how are you?
Troy: Good! So, this episode we’ve been talking to a bunch of different charities, and I know St. Christopher does a lot for the trucking industry, so can you give listeners a general overview of what St. Christopher actually does?
Shannon: Absolutely! We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. We work strictly with over the road and regional truck drivers, and when they are out of work because of an injury or an illness, they can apply for financial assistance with us. And it doesn’t matter whether the injury or illness is at work or if they were home for the weekend playing softball and broke their ankle, either way, it takes them out of the truck. So what we do is we fill that gap until they, hopefully, get back into the truck and back to work and in the meantime, not lose everything that they have: their truck or their home, maybe their lights would be turned off. So they can apply for assistance with us, and we’re gonna look at their medical records, we’re going to look at their finances, what’s coming in and what’s going out, and then we’re going to step in and pay those bills for them. And so, what they do is they submit the bills directly to us, we never give any money directly to the driver, and we pay the bill holders. So we can step in and pay mortgage and rent, utility bills, vehicle payments, truck payments, insurance of any kind, if there’s prescriptions that they need that maybe they don’t have the money to fill, things like that. We can’t pay every bill that they have, but we step in and pay those necessity bills.
Troy: Okay, and is this something that can be paired with maybe disability or other government help, or is this kind of an alternative?
Shannon: No, absolutely. In addition to giving the financial help that we give, we also have hundreds of resources that we share with the drivers, and all of those are on our website under our resources page. Depending on what the situation is, you know, maybe they’re needing to apply for food stamps for a short period of time, we’re going to tell them how to do that. Maybe they have medical bills that maybe we don’t have the funds to pay for, but we’re gonna tell them how to talk to doctors and how to talk to hospitals, the right words to say to ask for financial assistance or to ask for discounts on the amount of money that’s owed to the hospital or the doctor. Maybe they’re dealing with cancer, we’ve got cancer resources for additional help, we’ve got diabetes additional help, so it just depends on what they’re dealing with. We’ve got lots of additional resources, so it does not hinder them applying for assistance with us.
Troy: And can you tell us a little bit about how and when the organization started? I mean, this is such a great organization. It’s so wide-reaching to hear all the different resources that you guys offer, so how did St. Christopher come to be?
Shannon: Well, Dave Nemo who is on the Dave Nemo show Radio Nemo, he and his business partner Michael Burn and Dr. John McElligott who has been working in the trucking industry his whole career, they were just in the industry working with drivers, being on the radio, hearing the feedback from drivers and realized that there was this kind of gap in support for drivers. Because most of the drivers when they’re coming off the road, a lot of times it’s for short-term things, but they can lose a lot in a month or two or three. And so, they decided we really needed to start a nonprofit and fill this gap for these drivers, so that’s how it got started. We were 501(c)(3) approved in 2007, and we helped our first driver in 2008.
Troy: Awesome! And what’s your role within the organization? Are you working with drivers directly, are you working to kind of grow the brand or get the word out there?
Shannon: I started off actually as the operations manager and I did work with the drivers directly. I took all of the phone calls, did all the applications and all that stuff, but now we have someone else that does that and I actually moved over into the philanthropy and development side, and so what I do is I get to talk to people about what we do and share our passion for it, and ask them basically for financial support. I’m calling up the corporate people out there and asking for their support, telling on what we do and why they need to support the drivers. These drivers are out there bringing us everything that we have and everything that we need, and we need the companies to give back. And then most of our donations actually come from individuals and drivers, and so just sharing with them, letting them know we’re here. If they don’t know about us they can’t call us and encouraging the drivers to participate in fund raisers that may come along that may interest them, and come see us at shows and that kind of thing.
Troy: And how can drivers apply for help, and what would qualify them for your help?
Shannon: Well we have an application process and that application is online at our website, TruckersFund.org. Everything is electronic, you just fill it out and it shoots it right over to the office and they get started on it immediately. It does have to be for a medical issue that is keeping the driver from working; it can’t be their truck’s broken down or they’re not getting miles rom their dispatcher or whatever, it has to actually be an injury or illness that has kept them off work and is causing them financial difficulty. So we’re going to take a look at what that medical issue is, how long it’s going to be before they can get back to work… Dr. John McElligott, one of our founders, is actually our volunteer medical director, and he looks at every single file, all of the medical records, and says, “this is what this person is facing.” You know, they may be out of work a month, or they may be out of work six months, and so he’s letting us know what it looks like for this driver for the next month, six months, year, whatever it is, and that way we can try to figure out what kind of support they need and what we can do to best support them while they’re out, what additional resources that they’re going to need. So it does have to be a medical issue and there does have to be a financial need due to that medical issue.
Troy: And for those out there that would like to donate, what’s the easiest way to do that?
Shannon: The easiest way to do that is probably through our website, truckersfund.org, and just click on “donate,” and they’ll take you through PayPal. You can also donate through Facebook or you can drop a check in the mail. We are not doing credit cards at the moment, we don’t have that capability, so if you want a hundred percent of your donation to come to us, obviously a check would be the best way to do that, but if you want to do it electronically you can donate through our website through PayPal.
Troy: Alright well Shannon, I thank you again for taking some time to talk with us. Is there anything else you’d like to add? You can feel free to let us know some social media handles or if there’s any upcoming campaigns you want to promote. Our listeners would love to hear it.
Shannon: Yes, you can definitely find us on social media. It’s St. Christopher Truckers Fund on Facebook, it’s TruckerFund on Twitter and Instagram, and then of course St. Christopher Truckers Fund on LinkedIn, you can find us there. We do have some health initiatives. We have a two-fold mission, you know, along with doing the financial support for drivers we’re also trying to support drivers in their health and wellness as well. The healthier drivers are, obviously the longer they can be out there on the road. They’re not coming off the road for these injuries or illness. In the past we’ve done weight loss challenges with prizes and things like that. We currently have a vaccine program for drivers. If you are a Class A CDL holder you can get a free voucher for the flu, pneumonia, or shingles, and those are on our website as well, and you can go get those flu shots free if your insurance doesn’t cover it. We also have a no-smoking campaign. It’s an ongoing thing. It’s called “Rigs without Cigs,” and what we want drivers to do is to be completely nicotine free, whether it’s smoking or dipping or vaping, we want to remove that from your life. One, it’s going to really make a difference in your health because smoking affects so many other things, and drivers typically don’t have just one health issue, there’s usually two or three, and smoking is going to exacerbate those, so we’re trying to help and walk alongside drivers and give them a physical tool called a quick key that is going to help them stop smoking. It tapes you off; it’s not a cold turkey thing. Some people can do that, some people can’t. So we’ve had great success with this last year, and if you’re interested in being nicotine free, we would love to have you join our program. And then we also have a prescription discount card that is available to drivers as well, so we’re always trying to work on that health and wellness side as well.
Troy: Awesome! Well thanks again, we’ve been talking with Shannon Currier, the director of philanthropy and development from St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund. Thanks so much, Shannon.
Shannon: Thanks, Troy. I appreciate the time.
Music
Troy: Alrighty, and that’s it for the interviews we had today. Before we wrap things up, I wanted to mention that we did interview another nonprofit called Truckers Charity. you can hear that
interview and read about them in our blog on AllTruckJobs.com. Folks, again, if you like what you hear, if you enjoyed this episode, feel free to drop us a review on iTunes, Stitcher, anywhere you’re gonna listen to this podcast. We really appreciate it. And I think that about wraps it up. Lenay, do you have any more you’d like our listeners to know?
Lenay: I just want to, once again, mention to everyone listening that these charities are out there, so you can call them if you need help, but you can also call them if you’re willing to help them, so keep that in mind.
Troy: Alright, and my name’s Troy Diffenderfer.
Lenay: And I’m Lenay Ruhl.
Troy: And this has been BigRigBanter.
Music – Thanks for tuning into another edition of BigRigBanter. For your next job check out AllTruckJobs.com, the premier online source for finding the best driver jobs in the country. Browse hundreds of positions by freight or driver type to get back on the road with confidence. Click subscribe to keep the conversations coming until next time on BigRigBanter.
