Brent – 00:00:01:
Welcome to Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast where we explore the fascinating world of trucking and freight management. We dive deep into the freight industry and uncover why the trucking industry is more crucial to our country now than ever before. Stay tuned to uncover the driving forces behind successful trucking businesses and hear from the hardworking truckers and leaders who keep the world moving. Let’s hit the road. Hi, Freight Nation. Welcome back. We’re here to celebrate Truck Driver Appreciation Week. It’s always fun at Truckstop to be able to do that, to celebrate those hard working truck drivers on the road. Now, look, here’s the thing at Truckstop. We want to celebrate you every day. We’re glad they have a week, and that’s really kind of fun for people that may not know trucking. But honestly, truck drivers should be celebrated every week, every day, because it’s what they do. And in the end, it’s a true passion of truck drivers to drive a truck and to serve the American public by delivering the goods every single day. And from Truckstop and from my guest today, you’re highly appreciated. And so today’s going to be another fun episode, a purpose-driven episode is what I call it, because we’ve got Shannon Currier on today with St. Christopher Truck Driver & Relief Fund. Shannon, I hope I got that right. Everybody just knows you as St. Christopher’s. And for those of us who don’t know this, we’re not talking about a church event. We’re not talking about some of that. We’re talking about the St. Christopher Relief Fund of truckers. And it’s a great group. They’ve been around a long time. We’re going to talk all about it, about how Shannon got into it, why they exist. What goes on with it, how you can get involved. It’s going to be a lot of fun because they do a lot of great good for those truckers that need it at the time of a real crisis. And so, Shannon, thank you so much for being on Freight Nation today. And I just appreciate you joining us.
Shannon – 00:01:40:
Well, thanks for having me, Brent. I’m excited to be on Freight Nation. Hello, everybody. And I’m happy to talk about what we do. And it’s not a religious organization. You’re right. And you were close on the name. St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund.
Brent – 00:01:53:
Yeah, fantastic. Well, to me, I just know it as St. Christopher’s. I think people in the industry know it as St. Christopher’s. It’s really all you have to say. And that’s a good thing because it really harkens back to the great work and the positive work that you’ve done to help truckers in a great time of need. And so one of the fun things about Freight Nation, before we talk about why somebody’s doing or what somebody’s doing in the industry, I always talk about the why. So we’re going to talk about how St. Christopher’s got started. But I want to talk first about in 2014, you joined St. Christopher’s, which got you into this sort of philanthropic part, which is your role. You’re the director of philanthropy for St. Christopher’s, which is a really fun title. But you have a passion for helping this industry. And so tell me about how you got into transportation and then what led you to St. Christopher’s, and then we’ll talk all about St. Christopher’s.
Shannon – 00:02:38:
So my introduction to the transportation industry actually started like 25 plus years ago. I was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I went to work for a trucking company out there and I worked in payroll. And this was back in the day where drivers had to come in and pick up their checks from the payroll window. So that was me, the payroll lady. Come pick up your checks, answer all the questions about why I don’t have any money in my check, where all my money went. And I really fell in love with the industry. But after about a year, I left there and relocated back home, which at that time was Knoxville, Tennessee, because that’s where my parents were. And I went to work in a totally different area. I was an insurance agent for seven years. And then I got into the nonprofit arena at our church at the time and started working in children’s ministry and spent 18 years doing that. But at that time, my husband actually got into the transportation industry. And he’s done everything from recruiting to freight funding to new business development. He’s done it all. And he’s still in the industry. And so about 10 years ago, one of the ladies that I worked with at the church had left and she started working for St. Christopher Fund. None of us knew what St. Christopher Fund was. We had never heard of it. But she’s a dear friend and we stayed in touch. And her husband was working at Lowe’s and he was taking early retirement. They were going to move back to their family farm. And she called and she said, Shannon, I know you’ve been wanting to do something different. Get out of children’s ministry, but stay in the nonprofit arena. Would you be interested in stepping into my job? Because I’m going to have to step out. That was Julie Dillon, which many people are familiar with. So I ended up taking her position as the operations manager initially there in the office in Knoxville, Tennessee. She actually stayed on with us for a long time as our health and wellness manager after she left this position. About, gosh, six or eight months in, the lady that was doing our fundraising at the time left. And I was asked if I would be interested in moving over to the philanthropy side of things and then picking up the fundraising piece. And I said, absolutely. So I stepped into that position. And 10 years later, here I am. I don’t work in the office anymore. I relocated back home to outside of Montgomery, Alabama about nine years ago.
Brent – 00:05:02:
You’re in my state. I love it.
Shannon – 00:05:05:
Roll tide.
Brent – 00:05:06:
I went to Auburn, so War Eagle, but we’ll just agree to set that aside.
Shannon – 00:05:10:
Both of my boys are at Auburn. One’s still there, so they use my money.
Brent – 00:05:16:
Yep. Yep.
Shannon – 00:05:18:
To get my money, but they don’t get my cheering in the football season.
Brent – 00:05:21:
For those of you that don’t know the battle between Alabama and Auburn, you just saw it right there.
Shannon – 00:05:26:
Yeah.
Brent – 00:05:26:
Well, I get it. So you moved back home to Montgomery and after leaving Rocky Top, which was probably hard for you as a Bama fan living in Knoxville, but that’s okay too. So by the way, I love that you use the word philanthropy. It is the sort of fun definition of fundraising, but we’ll talk a little more about philanthropy because there’s more to it than that.
Shannon – 00:05:44:
Absolutely.
Brent – 00:05:45:
So you moved back to Montgomery.
Shannon – 00:05:47:
I did. I moved back to Montgomery and I’ve been director of philanthropy. Fundraiser is what I call it. For the last nine years here working out of the home, my husband’s still in the industry. So I love this industry. And it really just took me right back 25 plus years ago how much I loved working with drivers. Drivers are special people. This is a fantastic industry. And even though I’m on the nonprofit side of things, I love learning about this industry. It’s an interesting industry. And the people in it are so generous. And these men and women behind the wheel for sure will give you the shirt off their back if you need it.
Brent – 00:06:24:
Well, there’s no doubt. And it’s one of the things that they have literally given the shirt off their back for me at a time. And maybe one day on Freight Nation, I’ll tell that story about a truck driver named Sam Harrington and how he helped change my life. And so, but I feel the same way about the truck driving public and about how just uncompromisingly generous they are with their time and their resources to help people. And so in 2014, I remember when you joined St. Christopher’s, I think it was, I want to say Mid-America, but now if I remember correctly, I think I met you at the Great American Truck Show.
Shannon – 00:06:54:
I think it was the Great American Truck Show, which I miss terribly. I love that show.
Brent – 00:06:58:
Yes, I did too. So I think I remember where your booth was located. So that was a fun day because I remember when you took over. All right. So it sounds like that working with your church and you worked in insurance, obviously, so you understand the need for protection for people out there. You worked in your church and the ministry there as well. And now you’re working in another ministry type application where you’re helping people from a standpoint of what St. Christopher’s does.. So have you always, is that like Shannon’s heart? It’s just like, really just like how she can best help people.
Shannon – 00:07:26:
You know, it’s so interesting because when I first started college, I was not going to school for anything like this at all. I was in marketing, but I wanted to be a buyer. I wanted to travel to New York and Chicago and buy clothes for stores. That’s what I wanted to do was be a buyer. But just the more I got involved in our church and working with children’s ministry, that really changed my heart on where I wanted to go. I loved pouring into people, being there to support and building relationships. After 18 years of doing that, when this position was open, it seemed like a natural transition, a totally different nonprofit arena, of course, but still the same feel. I got to meet a whole different group of people and learn the life that they live. It’s a tough life, not the life that most of us would choose. I’m so appreciative of the experiences that I’ve had in this industry so far and look forward to many more.
Brent – 00:08:27:
Yeah, no doubt. So tell me a little bit about what you do. Well, you’re in the transportation industry, you’re in trucking, but you mentioned also that your husband drives a truck. So tell me a little bit about his operation and how that interacts with your life. And then I want to jump into St. Christopher’s and talk all about it.
Shannon – 00:08:42:
Yeah, so he does. That’s the one thing in the industry he has not done is drive a truck. He is not a driver. Yeah, so he works for a trucking company. Well, he’s on his own now. He’s an independent contractor now, but he has worked for trucking companies. And he’s always, done dispatching. He’s done driver recruiting. He’s done new business development. And so he’s been a part of all of it, but he’s never been a driver. He did drive a truck for a few miles when we lived in Albuquerque with a friend of ours who was a driver. And then I got to spend a week on a truck. I didn’t drive it, but I did get to spend a week on a truck with my friend Craig Daniels, creep-driver and on a reefer. So I did get to spend a week on a truck and see what that life was about. So overall, I don’t have the truck driver experience, but a week was, I learned a lot.
Brent – 00:09:29:
You have the trucking experience. If your husband’s been involved in trucking and now you’re involved in trucking, then the reason I ask about how you got to trucking, and I think this is one of the most compelling things about what I get to do on Freight Nation, our podcast, is I get to talk about the stories on people’s pathway to trucking and how a lot of times it was like, I never intended to end up in trucking, but I love it and I’m so glad I’m here. And so I use that as encouragement for those that might be looking for a career, looking for a career change or those sorts of things. And so really telling the story on how and where you find your sort of passion for trucking is the reason why I asked that question. So thanks for telling me about you and your husband’s experience at that level. So, all right, so let’s talk about St. Christopher’s. You know, when you say St. Christopher’s, obviously it might emote something on the church end, the religious end or something like that, but there’s a reason it’s called St. Christopher’s. And so talk a little bit about how St. Christopher’s started and was developed and the purpose and mission of it.
Shannon – 00:10:19:
Yes. So we are not religiously affiliated, even though we have a religious name. So if you’ve been in the industry for any length of time, you’ve probably heard of Dr. John. He’s been on the radio for years and years. And back 15 years ago or so, he was doing a show called Coffee with the Doc on with Dave Nemo. And he would get on and he answers. Yeah. So he answered questions from drivers that would call in health related questions that they had. And so what they learned was that drivers were losing everything they had. They were losing their homes. The utilities are being shut off. They were losing their trucks, their livelihood for most of the time, short term injury and illness.
Brent – 00:10:58:
Right. So from something drastic that happened to them.
Shannon – 00:11:01:
Yeah, something drastic. Well, it could be drastic or it could be that sometimes accidents happen at home. Somebody’s playing softball on the weekend while they were off and broke their ankle. Well, you can’t go back and drive a truck until that ankle’s healed. Some things are major, but some things are just everyday incidents that keep you from going to work. They don’t have a job like you or me. I can walk to my office in a boot or a cast, but driving a truck might look a whole lot different. So they were hearing all these drivers saying they were losing everything. And so Dr. John and Dave Nemo and Michael Burns got together and said, we need to do something about this. We need to put a nonprofit together that can kind of be a safety net for these drivers for short-term support. And so they decided to do that. And Dr. John was trying to figure out what to call it. What do we call this organization? So all three of them have a Catholic background. And John said, there’s got to be a saint. Who is the saint of travel, safe travel? And so Michael figured out that it was St. Christopher, patron saint of safe travel. So that became our name. And it’s a long name, our official name, St. Christopher Truckers Development and Relief Fund.
Brent – 00:12:11:
That’s a really long URL. People are probably like, I’m sorry, I got to stop. We got to get a shorter acronym for this.
Shannon – 00:12:17:
Truckers Fund. That’s how I pronounce it. Truckers Fund.
Brent – 00:12:20:
Right. There you go. So I did not know that St. Christopher was the patron saint of safe travels.
Shannon – 00:12:24:
I did not know that coming in either. I do not have a Catholic background.
Brent – 00:12:28:
I do. I have one. Yes. I did not know that.
Shannon – 00:12:31:
Well, come to find out, lots of truck drivers carry the St. Christopher medal in their trucks. No idea. So my husband’s grandfather was a truck driver and he had the medal. So when he passed, they gifted me his St. Christopher medal. That’s not a necklace. So I now have that. That was his.
Brent – 00:12:50:
So do y’all give those out at trade shows and things like that?
Shannon – 00:12:52:
We don’t, but we should. They’re pretty expensive to obtain. And so we want all of our money to go to drivers.
Brent – 00:12:59:
I do too.
Shannon – 00:13:00:
Yeah. So we invest very little in the swag and stuff to give away. One of these days we’ll have enough where we could just throw swag out the windows.
Brent – 00:13:08:
There you go. Well, that’s fantastic. So that’s how it was established by three leaders in the industry saying we want to help solve a problem when it might be something that’s fairly normal that happens to somebody, but it keeps them from operating their vehicle and it might put their business in danger. And so you guys come in with short-term financial opportunities to help get them over the hump of that challenge. Is that a fair description?
Shannon – 00:13:33:
That’s a fair description. Then we’re very focused because on the radio, they were talking to Class A, over-the-road semi-truck drivers. So that is our focus. We get a lot of questions about, well, can you help this driver and that driver in this arena? And what if I don’t drive a semi? And it is very focused. It’s Class A, over-the-road semi-truck drivers. That’s who we are able to help.
Brent – 00:13:55:
So that’s any Class A driver, not like a certain category, like they need to be an independent owner-operator for hire or a leased owner-operator or a company driver. So is there a certain category of those?
Shannon – 00:14:05:
No. All of those apply. A, O, T, R, semi-truck.
Brent – 00:14:08:
Yeah, all 3.5 million. All right. And Freight Nation, that shows you how big of an audience it is. This isn’t a few hundred thousand. This is 3.5, 3.6 million truck drivers that are in our marketplace. So you can see, imagine the need. Imagine just 1% have a problem. It’s still a big number. So you can see the need for what St. Christopher’s does. All right. So let’s talk about the beginning days of St. Christopher and how everything got off the ground and how you guys got things going and what were some. I know you didn’t join until 2014. And if you don’t have some history on that, you can even take it from what’s happened since 2014 because you’ve been there a decade, which is a really meaningful long time.
Shannon – 00:14:46:
It’s been a long time. Yeah. So actually the first driver that we helped was actually in 2008 and he reached out to us actually for sleep apnea. Back then that was a big thing on the docket and being talked about was sleep apnea. And he was not able to get back in the truck until he had his sleep apnea testing done. So we were able to step in and help him to get that testing done so he could get back on the road. And he did, he got back on the road. Since then, gosh, there’s a lot of health issues in the industry.
Brent – 00:15:17:
What are some of the consistent things that you help with?
Shannon – 00:15:19:
Yeah, so we’ve got 85% of drivers are overweight. One in seven suffer from type 2 diabetes. As a whole, their life expectancy is 16 years less than the rest of the population.
Brent – 00:15:30:
So if the average male lives to, what, 77?
Shannon – 00:15:33:
Yeah.
Brent – 00:15:34:
I think it’s about 77 women or like 78 and a half. So it’s wow in their somewhat early 60s. Wow, Shannon, that’s a big deal.
Shannon – 00:15:43:
Devastating number to think about.
Brent – 00:15:44:
Yeah, that’s a big deal.
Shannon – 00:15:45:
We look at what 50 and 60 looked like 50 years ago. It’s different from what 50 and 60 looks like now. So you think of 60, my parents are older. They’re 81 and 77. And that’s young compared to what those ages look like a long time. So they’ve already outlived the age span of life expectancy. And I think that’s why maybe a lot of the conversation is we’re losing older drivers. A lot of those are because of health reasons. And the second piece of what we do is we have health and wellness programs because we want to see drivers not having heart attacks and not dying of cancer and not dying or not being able to drive because they have diabetes and have their foot amputated. Or we’re trying to encourage and provide programs. That drivers can use that won’t cost them anything, but that can help them have a healthier life and longer life.
Brent – 00:16:40:
Yeah. So Shannon, let me ask you a question about health and wellness, because my guess is that’s something you guys have added in the last short period of time. So first you were helping with direct need right at that time, and then now you’re working on more prevention, right? Is that fair to say?
Shannon – 00:16:53:
That’s fair to say. And from the beginning, that’s been the plan. That hence our long-named development and relief fund. So the relief is the financial assistance that we provide. From the beginning, the thought process was we would move into the health and wellness area to help some of these issues. That’s been Dr. John’s heart is to help drivers make healthier decisions on the road. So that’s what the development piece was from day one. And so over the years, we put together health and wellness programs. And we still add to those programs on a regular basis. We have a driver council that we work with. These are full-time truck drivers. They give us feedback on what drivers are facing? What do we need to be aware of? What programs should we be looking at next? How can we implement something that people are applying for assistance? That’s where our programs come from. What new program can we put together that’s going to meet drivers where they are and help them make healthier decisions to prevent some of these long-term longer term diseases, because some of this is preventable. Diabetes, obesity, smoking, those things you can work on with exercise and food.
Brent – 00:18:01:
All right, so you have a driver’s counsel. How many drivers are made up of the advisory counsel and things like that?
Shannon – 00:18:05:
We have six drivers on the council now, and we meet quarterly to talk about where we are, what the participation is in the programs, how can we market better, how can we get the information out to more drivers, how can we help spread the word, asking these ambassadors to spread the word for us as well, tell other people, tell companies about these programs. These programs are free to drivers. They’re free for companies’ drivers to participate in. We’ll provide you the information to share with your drivers, whether they be company drivers or lease drivers or owner-operators. Whatever they are, it doesn’t cost anything. That’s a free thing that you can share and just let drivers know that these programs are here, and who wouldn’t want to do that?
Brent – 00:18:46:
I’m assuming it’s like a no strings attached thing. As long as you qualify for what the need is, there’s not like a string attached to it or anything like that.
Shannon – 00:18:54:
No, and I think that when you hear free, I think that’s what people think is there’s going to be another shoe drop when I sign up. And there’s not another shoe to drop, I promise you.
Brent – 00:19:04:
Well, that’s exciting. So you talked about the establishment of St. Christopher’s and thank you so much for talking about the name and why you chose St. Christopher’s and your customer advisory board, your driver advisory council. You touched a few minutes ago about the services. Let’s go a little further into that. Like, give me sort of the top list of services that if somebody had a need, they could approach you for.
Shannon – 00:19:25:
Okay, so it’s a narrow focus on who we’re able to help, the things that we are able to offer financial assistance for. We do that because we want to help as many drivers as possible. So we want to help every driver for every circumstance. And then you’re going to be helping with so little money that it’s really not going to make a difference. And so we’re trying to really make a difference in the lives of drivers. So as long as they meet all the requirements and they are approved for assistance, we can cover household expenses, rent or mortgage, whichever they have, utility bills, vehicle payments and insurance payments. We don’t cover any medical bills. Everybody tends to think we do just because normally it’s I’m reaching out because of a medical issue. You obviously cover medical bills. We don’t because Lord knows those are a fortune and we’d be broke after about three drivers. So what we’re trying to do, really is take those expenses that are the highest expenses that drivers have and cover those for a couple of months. Right now, we’re offering a couple of months worth of assistance to get them over the hump so they don’t lose everything and hopefully get back on the road. If they can’t get back on the road for some reason, we have hundreds of additional resources that we share with these drivers and say, ok, beyond what we can offer, here’s where you can go next to look for that additional assistance. And we don’t give money directly to the driver. So the driver has to submit their bills to us and we pay the bill holders directly. And we do that for two reasons. One, you want to make sure it’s used for what you say it’s used for. You want to be accountable to your donors for how your money is used. But two, a lot of these drivers were applying for assistance with us really in crisis situations. They’re applying from the hospital. There’s a social worker. They’re helping them complete this application. And they’re being bombarded with things that they need to pay for. Or they get home and they’re like, okay, what do I pay first? Well, don’t lose your home because you’ve got to pay this medical bill, which a lot of drivers were doing. So we’re taking that and saying, let us make these payments for you. Here’s X amount of dollars that you’ve been approved for. Let’s make sure you have your home. Let’s make sure your insurance doesn’t go out of force while you’re recovering from this issue that you’ve been in the hospital for. Let’s make sure you’re not sitting there without utilities. And let’s make sure that you have a vehicle either to go back to work or to get to and from your doctor’s appointments, whichever you may need.
Brent – 00:21:53:
Right. So you’re making sure the need goes to where it’s designed to go to. So you are helping where you’ve committed to help, but you’re also confirming back to your wonderful supporters and donors who have given contributions. And so you can report back to them on this is where it had impact because it’s about keeping those donors going. So I want to talk about the process of a trucker like approaching St. Christopher and saying, what do they do? What’s the process they need to go through in order to reach out to you to give you the information to qualify for the need?
Shannon – 00:22:26:
Absolutely. So the quickest way to do an application is to go to our website. That’s at truckerfund.org.
Brent – 00:22:33:
As usual. Go online. Yeah, there you go. Say that again. What’s the address? truckersfund.org. Truckers Fund, T-R-U-C-K-E-R-S. F-U-N-D dot org.
Shannon – 00:22:46:
You got it. That is it.
Brent – 00:22:47:
Not a word for me, not dot com, not dot net, but dot O-R-G. So that tells you they’re a nonprofit. Okay. So is that correct?
Shannon – 00:22:54:
That is correct.
Brent – 00:22:56:
So the best thing to do is to go to truckersfund.org and all of the instructions on how to submit to you guys for the need is right there. And then once that happens, how do you vet through that process?
Shannon – 00:23:09:
I will tell you, we have a pretty in-depth vetting process. It’s about an eight-page application because we are audited every year. And we have to show in every file there’s a medical issue. You’re going to sign a medical release form. We’re going to request the medical records for you. You don’t have to do that. Those get sent. Those are reviewed by Dr. John in his office to make sure that there are medical issues.
Brent – 00:23:31:
Oh, Dr. John is still involved.
Shannon – 00:23:33:
Dr. John is still very much involved. He kind of oversees things now after all this time. But his office has all of the doctors there who are just right on board with his vision and mission for continuing to support St. Christopher Fund. So they review all the applications. We’re not doctors. So how long is this person going to be out of work? What are they looking at? What kind of assistance are they going to need? Kind of helping us understand that. And to be honest with you, some drivers don’t know that if you’ve had a stroke, you can’t drive for a year. They don’t know that. So sometimes they’re hearing some of that information from us first. So having that doctor support on the back end is what is helpful on the medical side of things. Once it’s signed off there, they also have to provide income and outgo for the household. There has to show in black and white that there is more going out than there is coming in. So there has to be a financial need. And then once those two things are done, as long as those things meet criteria, then you’re going to be approved for assistance. And as soon as you’re approved, we’re going to tell you, you know, reiterate what bills we can cover. You send those bills to us and we send those payments off directly to those bill holders.
Brent – 00:24:42:
Right. Fantastic. All right. So here’s one of the fun things, because I love to talk about the what, how it was developed, who’s involved. We talked about how you get through a process, what’s covered, those sort of things like that. I want to transition to the why. So I’d like for you, Shannon, to give a couple of really related stories. Here was this example of this trucker. Here was the need and here’s how we help them. So could you share a couple of stories on that? Because to me, that really motivates the heart as to why you guys are such a great group in the market.
Shannon – 00:25:09:
Yeah, absolutely. So we know that the state of driver health affects a lot of things. It affects everything. Safety, cost of insurance, failed DOT physicals, drivers having to be medically retired, fatigue behind the wheel, how many days off drivers take, all of that is affected. And so we’re trying to help those issues as well. And so drivers apply for assistance for a lot of things. So I had a couple of testimonies here already prepared to share because they’re pretty impactful. Okay. So I’m going to share from the financial side of what we do, the relief side, and then I’m going to share from the health and wellness side too.
Brent – 00:25:49:
Oh, fantastic. Yeah.
Shannon – 00:25:50:
Yeah. So because there’s two different sides of what we do and we make a difference in both sides. So we’re proud of that. So we’ve got driver clearance, Jackson. I’ve been a professional driver for 20 years. Last year, a nail pierced his boot and cut through his toe. His toe became infected and it needed to be amputated. A month later, another toe had to be amputated. He was unable to work for about four months. So his bills were adding up. He had used all of his savings. He didn’t have the funds to continue paying his bills. Reached out to several organizations and couldn’t find any help. Somebody luckily told him about the St. Christopher Fund. And so he went through the application process and he was approved for assistance. And we were able to cover his rent because he was behind already. By the time people reached out to us, a lot of times they’re already behind. So he reached out to us. We were able to pay that rent and get that check to his landlord. And here’s what he said. He said, “I couldn’t hold my emotions. Other than family, I’ve never really had anyone step up for me before. Getting that help renewed my faith. It gave me a sense of purpose and the confidence that someone from this industry cared.”
Brent – 00:27:00:
Wow.
Shannon – 00:27:00:
If that doesn’t make you feel good about what you do, I don’t know what would, right?
Brent – 00:27:04:
As we like to say in Alabama, if that doesn’t motivate you, you might want to check your pulse. What a great story on the health and wellness side.
Shannon – 00:27:12:
So let me talk about Danny on the health and wellness side. So I’m going to have Danny Lawson. He’s actually going to be on our podcast next month or so. So we’re going to share a little more in-depth of his story. But he actually joined our Rigs Without Cigs program in March of 2023.
Brent – 00:27:29:
Rigs without strings?
Shannon – 00:27:30:
Rigs Without Cigs. That’s our smoking cessation program.
Brent – 00:27:34:
Isn’t that smoking related?
Shannon – 00:27:36:
Yes, we want rigs that have no cigarettes in them.
Brent – 00:27:40:
There you go.
Shannon – 00:27:41:
So he joined that. That’s our longest running health and wellness program. And we’ve seen a lot of success with it. So he joined that program in 2023. He had a really rough time, as a lot of people do, trying to quit smoking. It’s like being addicted to a drug. And he said all the time, I just feel lost. I go into a room normally to get cigarettes. And he knows he’s not supposed to do that. And he’s like, I go in and I don’t know what to do with myself. So he struggled trying to figure out how to keep his hands busy. And that’s one of the things that Lindsay, our health and wellness manager, does. She gives you tactics and tools.
Brent – 00:28:12:
You don’t just have paperwork. You have an actual person that is going to work with him. Wow, that’s fantastic. Is it Lindsay?
Shannon – 00:28:19:
We have an actual person. Her name is Lindsay. She’s fantastic. It used to be Julie Dillon. And then when she left, Lindsay Bryan stepped in. It’s a fabulous program because you have a support group on Facebook. And there’s people that have been in that group since five years ago. They are tobacco free and have been. But they stay in that program to support new people coming in. It’s such a fantastic group. It blows my mind that people stay so connected with the new people coming in. But it just is a testament to how effective the program is. But yes, she gives you hands on tools and tactics. We also have the patches and the lozenges that you can use. We can also do nicotine replacement therapy if you need that as well. So there’s a whole range of how addicted you are and what you are going to need to help. So he joined that program. Still struggled, had a really hard time. He did celebrate his one year tobacco free. And I’m happy to say that. But at some time during that year, he also joined our Healthy Habits for the Long Haul program.
Brent – 00:29:22:
Healthy Habits for the Long Haul. That’s good alliteration.
Shannon – 00:29:25:
We have all these names.
Brent – 00:29:29:
I like that a lot. So that’s a good one. Healthy Habits for the Long Haul. So tell us about that.
Shannon – 00:29:33:
Yeah. So it’s a 12-week course and it works with Lindsay. You meet every week. And it’s talking about nutrition, how to read labels, water intake, movement, sleep, lots of things that you need to know to get started. And it’s a long-running program because you can’t learn everything at once. You can’t make every change at one time if you want to be successful.
Brent – 00:29:54:
Small successes.
Shannon – 00:29:56:
Exactly right. So at some point he decided, well, this is working for me on the rigs without cigs. I think I’ll try the healthy habits group. So he joined that. He attended every single class. Now he’s moved over to the long running program that we have and he’s helping other drivers do it too. So during one of the recent classes, another program we have is colorectal screenings. He decided I should probably get that done. I’m at this age. I need to get that done.
Brent – 00:30:27:
When you get past 40, you better start checking. I’m telling you.
Shannon – 00:30:30:
Yeah. And we see a lot of cancer.
Brent – 00:30:31:
And it’s not just for guys.
Shannon – 00:30:33:
It’s not just for guys. Absolutely not.
Brent – 00:30:36:
Right.
Shannon – 00:30:36:
So he said, I want to do colorectal cancer screening too. And we’re like, man, this guy’s just all in on his health, right?
Brent – 00:30:43:
Yeah, a lot of it.
Shannon – 00:30:44:
So he asked Lindsay, do me a favor, send my wife an email about this because I want to have her support from home to help keep me on track.
Brent – 00:30:53:
Oh, yeah. Help her be accountable. If you get an accountability partner, it’s fantastic. Sometimes it’s hard to pitch your spouse, but if it can be, that’s great.
Shannon – 00:31:01:
Yeah, well, he thought she would do a great job. So apparently she has. So about, I don’t know, two or three weeks ago, his wife reached out and shared this story. She said “Dan’s dad passed away a number of years ago from a stroke. He had uncontrolled high blood pressure and was convinced everything could be cured with oregano oil. Dan was not taking care of himself, especially after his dad passed away. I’m not sure what finally clicked. I had told him I was worried he was on the same path as his dad. Then he came across St. Christopher Fund’s health and wellness programs. He’s been doing so much better ever since. I just want you to know how far he has come.” She was amazed he quit smoking. He’s changed what he’s eating. He’s moving more. He had the lab work done. She’s proud of him. We’re proud of him. And he is seeing positive changes. And that’s just one story from the health and wellness programs that we have seen.
Brent – 00:31:57:
Shannon, part of this is like, once you find out after you get your colonoscopy, colon, rectal, skin, those sorts of things, if you’ve got a problem, it’s survivable, If you catch it quick enough. That’s one of the things about it. It’s like, I get it. I’m a guy in this industry and all my truck drivers are predominantly male. And so I get that. But the point being is that you want to continue to do this as long as you can and your family needs you and you love what you’re doing. Follow your health. This is fantastic. So let me ask you a question about how successful the ones that you’ve helped financially and the ones that have gone to a good health program with you guys, how do they then become advocates for what you guys are doing?
Shannon – 00:32:34:
Well, we have drivers constantly saying after we’ve helped them, they want to start giving back. And many of them do. They start making donations. Others, they share our social media posts. They comment on them to make sure they get reach and views. We do ads in the magazines just like everybody else does. And we have a new series out now. It looks like a comic book, but we’re sharing stories. One of those is one of our health and wellness participants. His name is Sean Leeser, and he shares his story of going through a personal trauma and then being a part of the St. Christopher Fund programs. He reached out and he said, “there’s a truck show, small truck show in my area. Can I go and be a representative for the St. Christopher Fund?” Absolutely. You can do that. Let us send you the information because this place, we can be everywhere.
Brent – 00:33:23:
I was going to ask if people could get involved. Yeah, how can more people get involved? Look, we got 3.5 million plus truck drivers. How can more of them be involved to help their fellow truck driver?
Shannon – 00:33:32:
Yeah, so there’s lots of ways to help. One that doesn’t cost you any money, share our information. Tell other drivers, take our information back to your company and say, do you know this organization exists? Can you support the organization as a company? If you can’t, can you put their information in the recruiting packets? Or when the drivers come in for orientation, can we share that information and let drivers know these programs are available if and when they need them? Connect with us on social media. We have a high five campaign. We call it a high five campaign. We want recurring monthly donors. $5 a month is not a lot, but when you have a bunch of people doing $5 a month, it turns into a lot of money. And we have some fantastic $5 a month donors. You can donate more than that. We just say $5 because it’s an easy round number.
Brent – 00:34:20:
Well, it’s digestible for people, right? That’s $60 a year. You get a thousand people giving you $60 a year. That’s a pretty good amount of revenue. Part of this is continuing to get the message out there about what you guys do to help the truckers. And so I love it that you’ve got previous beneficiaries being a part of St. Christopher, and now they’re talking about the industry. And then here’s one thing I think is really interesting. Is there any Freight Nation driver that’s watching this and you work for a fleet? All right. Most drivers know this, but you don’t think about it a lot because you’re driving the truck. It costs a lot of money to recruit drivers. It’s one of the biggest parts of the budget of any fleet that’s out there. If you can retain the drivers that you have for better health and getting them through problems, then it actually saves a lot of money. It saves the fleet money. So I think about how do you go to your fleet, Shannon, and go, okay, well, if we can institute some of these programs, we’ll save some money. Then you can contribute some of the money you might’ve spent on recruiting to St. Christopher’s, which helps drivers more and more. So I just think about that process. That’s one way that you as a driver, Freight Nation watcher and listener could go to your fleet and say, hey, this is a way you could get involved. And so I like that. I was thinking about that as you were talking about drivers getting involved in their fleets. And so to me, I think that’s one of the simple ways that maybe that could be a big benefit to St. Christopher’s because you’re benefiting their fleet and their driver turnover. All right. So let’s talk about philanthropy because look, I know no one likes to talk about money, but I do because I know trucking is generous. I watch trucking be generous all the time. I sit on boards that are generous all the time. I raise money for the American Logistics Aid Network. I help with Women in Trucking on the foundation for scholarships and Truckstop loves to give money to fund great organizations and great causes in our industry. So let’s talk about philanthropy. What’s the easiest way to get it? I think I’m going to guess it’s the gift five for the year per month. So what are some other ways that companies and individuals can get involved? And then if you had to put a number out there, what would be a great number for somebody to give?
Shannon – 00:36:11:
I think an easy round number that we’ve seen success with when talking to companies of any size is $5,000.
Brent – 00:36:18:
Yeah, there you go.
Shannon – 00:36:19:
That has been a well-received request kind of across the board for companies. So $5,000. And like you say, you think about 20 companies giving $5,000. That’s a lot of money. That helps a lot of drivers. Obviously, $5 a month would be the easiest way. But we have many companies that they’ve committed to us. They’ll say, we’re going to commit to be a donor for the next five years. And we’re going to donate X amount of dollars every year for the next five years. So be a committed donor. We can work with whatever you give. Any dollar at St. Christopher Fund is going to make a difference here. It just is. So an annual donation. It could be an internal company fundraiser. We have people that do internal fundraisers.
Brent – 00:36:59:
Oh, yeah, there you go.
Shannon – 00:37:00:
Yeah, we have people that do golf tournaments and the golf tournament benefits St. Christopher Fund and just went to T.A. Petro’s golf tournament at St. Christopher Fund and T.A. Petro’s. We share that. Fantastic event. People do estate planning. We’ve had people that put us in their wheel that at the end of their life, when there’s money left over at their estate, X amount of dollars comes to St. Christopher Fund for long-term investments or an annual donation. We’re always open to be creative about what might work with your company and how we can get employees involved. It kind of starts from the top down. What’s important to the top can become important to the employees. But also from the driver standpoint, a lot of companies are saying, drivers, what are you interested in? What do you want us to support? And so drivers, if you take us back to your company, then your company might say, I had no idea. There’s a million places where you can donate your money. There just are. But in this industry, I love to see companies that donate back to the industry that we are actually involved in, that we work in every single day. And support the men and women behind the wheel that we all depend on every single day.
Brent – 00:38:04:
Yeah, no doubt. Well, Shannon, I love that we do that at Truckstop. We get the employees to vote for what they want to give to. And St. Christopher’s has made the list for quite a while. And we’re happy to be part of what St. Christopher’s is doing because without truck drivers, we don’t have a business. So we love it. We want to support what’s important to them, what’s important to the health of their businesses and keeps them on the road when things happen. And we always want to encourage a healthy lifestyle. We’re always behind that as well. So I just appreciate from Truckstop to St. Christopher, from Brent to Shannon, thank you so much for what you do to help truck drivers every single day. It means a lot. And I know it’s appreciated. So thank you very much.
Shannon – 00:38:39:
Well, and I would say thank you to you too. The drivers, thank St. Christopher, because that’s where the money comes from when we’re supporting them. But we can only do what companies like Truckstop do, what drivers donate. We get to facilitate your generosity and make sure it gets to the drivers that need it. So we can’t do what we do without you. And we greatly appreciate Truckstop. And it’s been such a pleasure. Thinking back how we met at GATS, I was like, we’ve known each other for quite a while.
Brent – 00:39:06:
That’s a lifetime. I love it. It’s a generation. Well, it’s always good. I’ve been in this market for over 25 years and I love trucking and I love what truckers do for the United States. And I love what truckers do for the citizens. And I love what truckers do for my family. So this is why we want to be involved in things like St. Christopher’s that help keep our industry healthy. And so, Shannon, thank you for helping keep our industry healthy. It means a lot.
Shannon – 00:39:28:
Well, I know I speak on behalf of our board and staff. We love what we do. So thank you for supporting what we do.
Brent – 00:39:34:
Well, thanks again for being on Freight Nation, Shannon. And Freight Nation, man, that’s a wrap. If this one doesn’t tug at your heartstrings and let you know that there’s good people in trucking that really want to help trucking stay healthy, then Shannon and I haven’t done our job in communicating, but I know we have. Thanks for listening today and watching today on Freight Nation. We appreciate you being a part of what we’re doing here. Remember, as we like to say at Freight Nation, don’t forget to work hard, to be kind, and to stay humble. And today’s episode, to be generous to each other. Because without generosity, we’re never going to take care of everyone. So thanks a lot, Freight Nation, for being here today. And thanks for watching and thanks for listening. And that’s a wrap. And we’ll catch you the next time. On behalf of the Truckstop team, thanks for listening to this episode of Freight Nation. To find out more about the show, head to truckstop.com/podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you hit subscribe so you don’t miss any future episodes. Until then, keep on trucking and exploring the open roads with Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast.
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