Truckers Final Mile starts memorial to honor truckers, raise funds

Truckers Final Mile has found a way to honor truck drivers while generating funds.

The charity, which covers the cost for truck drivers to be returned to their family in the event of death or serious injury, has started the American Heritage Memorial.

“What we’ve done is we incorporated 1,000 bricks in a full trailer and tractor wrap, and we’re asking donations of $250 to honor a fallen truck driver with their name, the date of birth, date of loss, any military service branch or major campaign, CB handle and hometown,” Robert Palm, an OOIDA life member and founder of Truckers Final Mile, told Land Line Now’s Scott Thompson.

A tax-deductible donation of $250 will provide a 5- by 9-inch brick with three lines of script. A donation form can be found here.

“Honor the memory of your beloved professional truck driver by having their name prominently incorporated in our unique fully wrapped tractor-trailer,” the website states.

Palm told Land Line earlier this year said 2020 was a difficult year as requests for their services increased and donations decreased because the organization couldn’t attend truck shows to generate funds. General donations to Truckers Final Mile, which started in 2013, can be made here.

Honoring truckers

One of the bricks honors longtime OOIDA President Jim Johnston.

“Mr. Johnston is the founder of OOIDA, and we knew he had been a truck driver and he served in the military,” Palm said. “And so we reached out to see if he would be one of the first that we put on the trailer, and they were gracious enough to allow us to do so.”

Johnston, who died in 2018, helped create OOIDA in 1973 and then served as president of the organization for 43 years. He became OOIDA’s third president in 1973 and helped turn it into the nation’s largest organization for truck drivers with more than 150,000 members.

Another brick has been dedicated to Jason Rivenburg, a truck driver who was killed in 2009 over $7 at an abandoned gas station in South Carolina after being unable to find a parking space.

Rivenburg, who was only 35 years old, had three sons. Joshua Rivenburg was only 23 months old at the time of the tragedy, and twins Logan and Hezekiah were 13 days away from being born.

His death led to Jason’s Law in 2012. LL