Truckers Hit the Road for Hungry Kids

Leave it to truck drivers who deliver practically everything we eat and drink to turn National Truck Driver Appreciation Week into an opportunity to pick up and deliver food for hungry children.

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That is what’s happening in Kansas this week through a program called Big Rigs for Kansas Kids.

Beginning Aug. 21 in Hays, a specially designed tractor-trailer will collect food at Wal-Mart stores in 10 cities. Each stop will feature a live radio broadcast, interviews with Kansas Road Team captains and prizes for children ranging from Nascar shirts to model trucks. In Wichita, truck dealers will give children a ride in a big rig.

“We want professional truck drivers to feel good about their profession and realize how important their job is,” said Jerry Arensdorf, president of Arensdorf Trucking of Medicine Lodge.

Arensdorf also is vice president of the Kansas Motor Carriers Association, which is sponsoring the food drive along with Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and O’Reilly Auto Parts.

The food will be distributed through the Kansas Foodbank Warehouse and Second Harvest organization. KFW serves 450 agencies in 86 counties and provides food to 100,000 people each month.

The Big Rigs for Kansas Kids tour will make stops in Liberal and Great Bend on Aug. 23; Hutchinson and Wichita on Aug. 24; Emporia and Pittsburg on Aug. 25; Lenexa and Ottawa on Aug. 26; and Topeka on Aug. 27.

On Aug. 28, a big rig convoy led by David McDonald, a driver for Roadway Express in Kansas City, Kan., and American Trucking Associations’ national truck driver of the year in 1996, will arrive at Heartland Park in Topeka to participate in what ATA officials are touting as the grand finale to National Truck Driver Appreciation Week.

Thousands of racing fans are expected to attend a nationally televised Nascar Craftsman Truck Series race — the O’Reilly Auto Parts 275 — and the Big Rigs for Kansas Kids trailer will take a ceremonial lap around the track before the start of the race, which will be carried live on ESPN.

A truck owned by Nascar Winston Cup driver Bobby Hamilton will run in the race as a special tribute to truck drivers. The Dodge truck will feature logos from the KMCA and ATA, marking the Nascar debut for both organizations.

For the full story, see the August 23 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.