Remember pen-pals? More than 135,000 pupils in classrooms across America trade letters with unusual pen-pals: truck drivers.
Trucker Buddy, a pen-pal program matching truckers with elementary school classes, is the brainchild of retired driver Gary King, a long-haul trucker for 26 years. In 1992, he contacted a local elementary school principal and asked whether he could “adopt” a class and exchange letters with it from the road.
Today, Trucker Buddy reaches school children in all 50 states through 10,000 drivers and teachers.
To draw attention to the program, Trucker Buddy drivers led the 1997 Share America convoy across the nation to the first Knights of the Road Jamboree in Reno/Sparks, Nev., last week during National Truck Driver Appreciation Week.
“The children have made me see the country through entirely new eyes,” writes Trucker Buddy Ruby Walker of Texas.
As the children track their Trucker Buddy on a map, the teacher incorporates lessons in geography, history, mathematics, social studies, economics, road safety and more. Through letters, children improve their writing, grammar, punctuation and communication skills.
“My students love this program,” says teacher Sue Revard of Fishburne Elementary School in Hanahan, S.C. “We tracked our Trucker Buddy Paul Todorovich’s movements and learned how to find all the states he traveled through. He was great about sending detailed postcards and taught us about the cargo he hauled too.”
“I give my kids a real-world look at the country,” says Charlotte, N.C.-based Todorovich.
Trucker Buddy drivers used the convoy to tell how the program is making a difference in the classroom and on the road.
Trucker Buddy International is a non-profit organization based in Madison. Major sponsors include Kenworth Truck Co. and Chevron Global Lubricants.
