St. Christopher Fund booth making a splash

One of the first places I headed to this morning at the OOIDA Heart of America Trucking Show was booth No. 322 to meet up with the St. Christopher Fund’s Director of Fundraising, Denise Pittenger, and fellow SCF board members Joyce Brenny and Linda Caffee.

Joyce and Linda are both OOIDA members doing double duty. Both were here to enjoy the show, and both were finding the time to donate their time to the St. Christopher Fund, too. Linda's always on the move -- with the Trucking Solutions Group and Team Run Smart, too. Joyce -- who owns Brenny Transportation in St. Cloud, Minn.-- told me she was presenting a check for $1,000 to the SCF, a gift from the drivers at Brenny. She has 50 drivers and some of them made donations and gave up vacation days to make this donation. How amazing is that? Hats off to you Brenny drivers.

It's a chilly morning here at the Kansas Speedway and, despite the light rain that passed through, the action inside the exhibit tent.was busy. In fact, the rain succeeded in "encouraging" people to come inside the giant tent.

Linda Caffee and Joyce Brenny

I was talking to a couple of truckers there about the SCF. Their main question was how many truckers the St. Christopher Fund has helped. Here's the answer. Since it was founded in 2007, it's helped nearly 850 financially strapped truck drivers sidelined with medical conditions. Total assistance through the end of September is – are you ready for this? – $455,610.49. When I tell people that, they're blown away.

Who do they help? Here's a few reports from just last month. The fund recently paid the mortgage for a 54-year-old trucker diagnosed with liver failure. For a 50-year-old trucker with cancer, SCF paid the electric bill and his mortgage payment. For another cancer-stricken trucker, SCF paid medical bills and electric bills. For a trucker with a brain injury, rent was paid.

The SCF’s credo is “Saving lives and families one driver at a time.” These are neat people doing cool things.