Nonprofit Trucker Buddy International, which pairs commercial truck drivers as pen pals with classrooms of schoolchildren, has announced that Qualcomm Inc. will support the organization via financial donations and technology programs. Trucker Buddy said this corporate support will help it “fulfill the mission of introducing young students to the trucking industry while providing an opportunity for drivers to help them excel in the classroom as well as in life.”
Randy Schwartzenburg, Trucker Buddy International executive director, noted that Qualcomm’s sponsorship support will include leveraging the firm’s wireless mobile-communications technology.
“It is our pleasure to support a program as worthwhile as Trucker Buddy,” said Norm Ellis, vp of sales, services and marketing for Qualcomm Enterprise Services. “We strongly support Trucker Buddy’s goal of educating school children and teachers about the importance of the trucking industry.”
The Trucker Buddy program helps to educate and mentor schoolchildren by establishing pen pal relationships between professional truck drivers and children in grades 2-8 as supervised by their teachers. After an extensive screening process, the truck drivers are matched with a class and as directed by the teacher, drivers share news about their travels with their class. Students write letters and send pictures to their drivers. Students' skills in reading, writing, geography, mathematics, social studies, and history are enhanced and learning is made fun, the organization noted..
Since 1992, Trucker Buddy International said it has helped educate over a million schoolchildren and introduce them to “caring, compassionate men and women, professional truck drivers. The on-going success of the program is due to driver volunteers, participating teachers and the contributions of sponsors”
There is no cost to the drivers or teachers to participate in the program as the Trucker Buddy program is funded entirely by sponsorships and donations.
