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Trucker Buddy International |
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Contact Information:
Trucker Buddy International
P.O. Box 527
Waupaca, WI 54981
Phone: 1-800-MY-BUDDY
Phone (direct): (715)256-2342
Fax: (715)258-2396
E-mail: info@truckerbuddy.org
Website: www.truckerbuddy.org
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About Trucker Buddy
Trucker Buddy is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to helping educate and mentor the nation's schoolchildren via a pen-pal relationship between professional truck drivers and children in grades 2-8. Trucker Buddy matches classes of students with professional truck drivers. Every week, these drivers share news about their travels with their assigned classes, and provide a format for the enhancement of the grade school curriculum in reading, writing, geography, mathematics, social studies, and history. Since 1992, Trucker Buddy has helped educate over half million schoolchildren and introduced them to a group of caring, compassionate group of men and women, the nation’s professional truck drivers.
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Trucker Buddy History
In November, 1992, a professional truck driver, Gary King, contacted a grade school in Williams Bay, WI and asked the principal for permission to write to a class of students as "pen-pals." One fourth grade teacher quickly agreed, and King began writing postcards and short letters every week. The students eagerly wrote back and asked him questions about driving and the sights he saw. The teacher quickly recognized the value of the letters in stimulating the children's interest in reading, writing and other subjects, and integrated them into her teaching routine. When other drivers saw King writing his postcards and letters at the many truckstops he visited across the country, they, too, became interested in the program and wanted their own pen-pals.
The Trucker Buddy program became incorporated on July 1, 1993. Within the first year of operation, Trucker Buddy grew to almost 1,000 driver-teacher matches. The second year the program doubled, and doubled again in the third year of operation. By the end of the 1996-97 school year, there were approximately 5,000 driver-teacher matches, with 135,000 plus students participating in the Trucker Buddy program. In 1998, Trucker Buddy launched a new effort to recruit new drivers and expand services, and in 1999, the Board of Directors was expanded to include four active drivers and one teacher.
"Teachers adore the program because it makes school subjects come alive. The kids track the movements of their Trucker Buddy, discuss the places he or she visits, the loads hauled, and even personal facts. Many kids regard their Trucker Buddy as a true mentor, not just a pen-pal." |
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Drivers
