At a recent PMTC Board of Directors meeting in Milton, Ontario, Ed Novoa, Trucker Buddy Board Member since 2011, was invited to make a presentation to the Board and raise awareness of the Trucker Buddy Program.

The topic was first raised at a PMTC Young Leaders Group Brainstorming session in March. When the idea was brought to PMTC President Mike Millian, he was very interested in finding out how the PMTC could get involved. Millian remembered hearing about the program back in his early years in the industry as a driver, and recalled the program being much more prominent in his travels South of the border. The Trucker Buddy Program began in 1992 with an Over the Road Driver who wanted to stay in touch with his kids and be involved in their education. The Program has over 1900 driver participants adopting classrooms worldwide. The Program is a great way to educate school aged children about the industry, raise the industries image, and help teach children about geography and what is all involved in the life of a driver. Drivers and teachers are volunteers and receive no compensation. Drivers who are interested are required to have a thorough criminal & back ground check done for safety and security reasons. Once approved, they will either be paired up with a class for a year, or they may request a class of their own. Drivers then communicate with the teacher weekly, and these communications are part of the children’s class activities. If the fleet and school approve, drivers can visit their adopted class with their trucks as well to show the students where they work. Go to this link to see an actual Trucker Buddy visit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn3SR1KR30o

Sadly, the Trucker Buddy Program only has 18 Canadian Drivers, and 12 classrooms participating. In an effort to try and change this, the PMTC Board voted to donate $1,000.00 to the program, as well as provide advertising through its various communication channels, and reach out to its members. Several Board Members who have fleets have also committed to investigating further to see if they can make the program part of their fleet and get some of its drivers involved.

Ed commented, “The challenge in Canada has been, by my observation, that fleets perceive it is a great program, but they do not have time to be involved. My hope is that by having the PMTC support the program, it will help dispel the myth. The carriers are typically “hands-off” once the driver is registered and active. The rest is managed by Trucker Buddy administration. Over the Road Magazine, which I work for, has always been involved with this program. Once my tenure is done, we expect another member of the OTR team will join the Board.”

PMTC President Mike Millian added “The Trucker Buddy Program is an amazing program, whose main goals are to communicate with students, educate them about our industry and improve our image. With our struggles to get the next generation into our industry, and our image issue with the general population, this is a program the entire industry and every company should be involved in. Throwing our support behind this organisation is a no brainer. We challenge all PMTC Members to reach back to find out how you can get your fleet and drivers involved.”

Trucker Buddy Executive Director Alan Welborn remarked” It is truly our pleasure to have the support of PMTC, their Board and their members. With the support of the entire PMTC team we feel our partnership will help our Trucker Buddy message within the drivers, teachers, students, fleets and supplier community. We are really looking forward to growing our partnership and are veryappreciative of this partnership.” To find out more, go to www.truckerbuddy.org

 

 

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