OOIDA member Ray Nations was recently named Trucker Buddy of the Month for May. He was nominated by his Trucker Buddy class’s teacher, Eleanor Dasenbrook, who teaches Project Pathways, a special education class at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Arlington, VA.

For eight years, Nations has been bringing his Trucker Buddy class with him through his letters as he travels across the country.

“Ray’s correspondence allows my students to travel this great country of ours vicariously,” Dasenbrook says.

Students Daisy and Esmeralda supported their teacher’s nomination with their own letter: “He tells us about how big the truck stops are, where he stops to eat, and how he has to get creative to move families’ belonging because his truck can’t get close to their new home.”

These students have learned about more than the trucking industry; they have an insight into the household moving industry.

Nations lives in Lightfoot, VA, and is an owner-operator leased to Mayflower Transit of Fenton, MO.

As Trucker Buddy of the Month, Nations will receive a personalized jacket, along with a check for $300 to spend on the class and $200 in Trucker Buddy merchandise, compliments of TMI-MultiMedia. He will also receive a Koolatron cooler and a copy of “For the Long Haul” by Donde Publishing. 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.

Nations is one 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 and be 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.