Back To The Future
Trucker Buddy program transforms industry image for the long haul.
Bette Garber
Contributing Editor
On a cold, rainy January morning in Clarks Summit, Pa., the future of trucking is being transformed in an elementary school auditorium.
The entire student body of Summit Baptist Academy - kindergartners through 5th grade - are seated, along with a sprinkling of parents. The children are bouncing up and down with suppressed excitement. Some repeatedly fold and unfold pieces of paper holding questions for the guests seated on folding chairs onstage.
Up front are Ruth Jaroe and partner Glen White, both of Avoca, Pa. and owner-operators for FedEx Custom Critical. They have been Trucker Buddies to the school's fifth grade class for three years.
Joining them are FedEx drivers representing the delivery giant's three other operating subsidiaries: FedEx Ground's Michael Wiest, a longtime Trucker Buddy; FedEx Freight driver Wayne Crowder, a newbie Trucker Buddy; and FedEx Express driver Ken Demuro.
Also in attendance is Michael Humm, managing director of safety for the shipping giant, along with two operations systems managers and Ellen Voie, executive director of Trucker Buddy International.
Outside the school, the drivers' trucks - a step van, a conventional with doubles and a daycab tractor-trailer, await the students' inspection after the formal program is over. The strong FedEx presence underscores the company's commitment to the program. Eighty FedEx drivers participate in the Trucker Buddy program.
The FedEx Ground subsidiary of FedEx Corp. has been a Trucker Buddy sponsor for the past five years. And, the current president of the program's board of directors is FedEx Ground contractor Don Nehring from Memphis, Tenn.
"There is just no downside to this program. It's a great way to introduce children to safety on the highway," says Humm. "Our company will operate nearly one billion miles on highways this year. Our 20,000 professional drivers share the road every day. If we can pass on a safety hint or two - about seatbelts, blind spots - it helps us all."
Jaroe, a former New York City investment banker who took to the road three years ago, and White, a 30-year highway veteran, both had clear-cut reasons for joining the international pen-pal program.
"My first reason was a desire to improve the image of truckers by letting kids see us as normal - not scary - and showing that one of our biggest goals is safety."
Also, she thought she could enliven history, geography and other school subjects through her weekly posts. "I remember being bored with these subjects when I was in school. They just never came alive for me. If I could use postcards to share our experiences out here and challenge students with questions based on our travels, I could make learning fun."
White was tired of hearing truckers swearing and complaining on the CB. He saw the program as a way he could have a clear-cut impact in changing the way truckers are perceived.
"When you donate your time, it's more personally rewarding. You get back more than what you give," he says. "Lately we've been teaching safety and the Smith Method for safe driving. We've taught them about hazmat placards and sent them a placard chart."
Last year the couple mailed the class about 80 postcards, which were divided up by the teacher at the end of the semester and distributed to the students.
"The kids trade them," Jaroe laughs.
This was Jaroe and White's second school visit in three years of corresponding with teacher Rachel Roberts' fifth-grade classes.
Roberts loves the program, and what it gives to the students.
"The Trucker Buddy program has enhanced all areas of learning in my classroom. [Ruth and Glen] make it so personal. They write individually to the students, who learn about things in the U.S. they have not yet experienced. They come to feel they have another friend - an adult," she said. "In second grade, the students start hearing about it from their siblings and they start to get excited about participating early on."
Parent Sue Berardelli came to the program to meet Ruth and Glen. Both her children have been in the program and she wanted to meet the people who had made such an indelible impression on her kids.
"My kids talk about the program a lot. They're interested in where the truckers have been. The program expands their view of the country, how big it is, and how things get moved."
The day before the FedEx assembly, Roberts asked all the students - not just her class - to count how many delivery trucks they see in 24 hours. The children's counts were reported to the gathered assembly: They had noted 2,887 delivery trucks and 288 FedEx trucks.
This alone is a significant link to the future, helping the students develop an awareness of trucks in their world.
The program continues with students' testimonials to the program. Fifth grader Sarah Pisanchyn offered this endorsement, "I like learning about different states and different people. I'm so glad for Trucker Buddy. I hope it's still around when my kids are in school."
The testimonials "floored" Jaroe and White. "This was a humbling experience. We've gotten back far more from them than we've put in."
Questions from the young audience demonstrated a perceptive and genuine interest in the subject. Here are a few:
• Is it hard to be patient when you have deadlines and lots of traffic?
Answer (Glen White): You have to maintain a good attitude. Safety always takes priority."
• Is it difficult to park?
Answer (Michael Wiest who brought twin trailers):
"I have to be very careful."
• How fast will your truck go?
Answer (Ruth Jaroe): Only as fast as the posted speed limit.
• Is [truck driving] a hard job?
Answer (Wayne Crowder): "No, not hard. But it takes a long time to learn."
Later the students filed outside to climb aboard all of the trucks for a close-up look at the variety of vehicles within the FedEx system.
Principal Warren Aldrich gives the truckers high marks. "They're doing a super job." He sat with the truckers at lunch and questioned them about their over-the-road experiences.
FedEx's Wiest, a Trucker Buddy for six years, pulls a photo of his current class of sixth-graders in Clarksville, Tenn., from his wallet. His own children are grown. "These are my kids now," he says with obvious pride. He enjoys watching the improvement in their letter-writing skills.
"This is a good program. I challenge [the students] on geography and spelling."
Wiest is captain of the PMTA (Pennsylvania Motor Trucking Assn.) Road Team. He is also State Champion in the PMTA Rodeo -Twins Class.
He talked Fed-Ex Freight's Crowder into becoming a Trucker Buddy. Crowder, a road driver out of Louisville, Ky., with FedEx for more than a decade, wears the distinctive gold belt buckle and ring he won as Grand Champion in 2004's ATA National Truck Driving Competition. He is also a nominee for the next ATA's America's Road Team.
Crowder is already thinking about how to turn what he does into questions for students. "It's the everyday stuff you do, from fueling to calculating mileage."
He agrees the stereotype of a driver is "scary" and is looking forward to bringing a different picture to his new pen pals.
Close to 4,000 truckers participate in this nonprofit program which matches professional truck drivers with second- through eighth-grade students from all over the country.
As for the future, since 1993 when the program was initiated by truck driver Gary King, almost a million children have learned the human side of trucking, had their curriculum enriched through truckers' postcards, letters and visits, and come to understand the significance of the industry.
Learning about truckers as real people, about the job they do, and the safety they bring to their job will never leave these children. What they bring home impacts their parents as well. A long time from now they will be safely sharing the roads with trucks and perhaps - because of their exposure to the positive side of trucking - choosing to follow a career path into the trucking industry.
Says Jaroe, "This [pen pal] program doesn't take lots of time, energy or money, and the impact on young lives and the trucking industry is awesome."
For more information, call (800) MY BUDDY or visit www.truckerbuddy.org.
