January Trucker Buddy of the Month

Waupaca , WI : How do you convince a five year old to eat Cheerios for breakfast? You bring the cereal to school along with the Cheerios race car!

The students in Deann Kidd's class at Sedge Garden Elementary in Kernersville , North Carolina are thrilled when their Trucker Buddy drivers, Jerry and Ann Rierson visit their school. Jerry and Ann are company drivers for Richard Petty Enterprises, where they haul the race car around the country for NASCAR events.

The Riersons adopted the kindergarten class after learning about the Trucker Buddy program at the Great American Truck Show in Dallas. Since then, they have not only sent the kids cereal, but hats, posters badges, toy cars and t-shirts, autographed by Richard Petty.

Maggie is a student in Ms. Kidd's class, and her parents are so impressed with Jerry and Ann's influence on the class that they “are starting to get interested” in NASCAR because of their daughter's friendship with the Trucker Buddy drivers.

The children are learning to write and actually enjoy writing thank you notes and entries about the Cheerios car in their journal. Ms. Kidd is thrilled with this and calls it, “incredible, some of my students [who] wouldn't do anything for me wrote!”

The children are enthused about having Trucker Buddies, claims Travis' mom, Nicole, “my child comes home full of excitement, telling me about Jerry and Ann and showing me all the gifts.”

One of the student's parents described the interaction between the drivers and the class by writing, “With each of their visits the children are awakened to the big world outside of their class by two people who care.”

Jerry and Ann Rierson live in Belews Creek, North Carolina and are two of nearly 4,000 professional drivers who share their time with elementary classes throughout the world. The only criteria to be a Trucker Buddy is to be a truck driver, willing to send a post card each week to a class in grades two through eight. Drivers and teachers can find out more about the program by visiting www.truckerbuddy.org or calling 1-800-MY BUDDY. There are still classes still waiting for a Trucker Buddy for this school year.

The Riersons will receive personalized jackets, along with a check for $300 to spend on the class and $200 in Trucker Buddy merchandise. They will also receive a copy of “For the Long Haul” by Donde Publishing and an Accident Photo Pak. The class will receive a CrossCountry USA game from Ingenuity Works, which will help them learn more about how trucks move freight across the nation.

Trucker Buddy is dependent on corporate sponsors. Major contributors include Platinum level: Transcore and ProTrucker & Over the Road magazines, Gold Level Sponsors: American Trucking Association, American Graphics Group, Delphi, Kenworth, Midnight Trucking Radio, Truckin' Bozo, Mike Ryan Motorsports and Wal-mart, along with Silver Level: ArvinMeritor, CCJ, Detroit Diesel, OTR-Canada and Riggs & Recruits, . Interested sponsors can contact Ellen at Trucker Buddy International or by calling 1-800-MY BUDDY.

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