Profile For Robert P.

Hello everyone. I have been away for a bit but several events have given me reason to return.

Some background. My name is Robert Palm. In the last two years I have been building what we hope will be a reliable source of assistance for North American Truck Drivers and Their Family in Times of Crisis.

Since early 2014, we have assisted 42 trucker families with helping bring a deceased trucker home for burial, getting a truckers wife to his side after a severe injury or major medical episode, or getting a trucker home when a disaster wipes out his/her home or a tragedy strikes his family while he is out on the road.

Here is some reality we have learned. ... One ... if you are a new hire in the industry, or an old hand moving to a new company ... READ the insurance policy! We had one trucker on his first run pass away far from home and the company (nor workers comp) would cover any of the expense of getting his remains home because his insurance wouldn't kick in until he was on the job 60 days!!

Second ... "off duty" .... if you are logged off duty .... don't die, get injured, have a heart attack, and hope everything remains fine at home. You are on YOUR time. We have had several instances of truckers passing away in their truck, getting injured in the truck stop parking lot, and more ... where the company refused to assist because the driver was logged "off duty" and the event was not "work related". If you're injured and are violating a company policy .... don't look to them for help.

Now ... many companies will and do assist. We have had several that will tell us that they have it covered and a couple that have even paid funeral expenses..... which can be thousands of dollars.

Let me give you an example: to get a deceased trucker home (regardless of fault or cause) your first expense is "event local transport" What is that? That is the cost (usually in the $300.00 - $400.00 range) to get the remains from the "event" ... say a truck stop ... to hospital, to medical examiner and finally to a local funeral home in that far away city.

Second expense. There are minimal requirements that few know, to fly (whole) remains across state lines, they must be embalmed. Usually anywhere between $900.00 to $1,200. Prices vary because there isn't uniformity in the funeral business. Perhaps the drivers belief, or family's request is that the remains are cremated. There is a 48 hour hold in most cases in the event of any official investigation, and the cost is usually around $900.00. Either way, proper permits must be in place to allow for transport or cremation. Just a note: you can mail cremains ... we don't.

Third expense: Transportation. A flight can be upwards of $750.00. Ground transportation (in a hearse) is about $2.00 per mile (minimum).

The fourth expense is the "home town local transportation". To pick the remains up from a local airport to the family funeral home is another $300.00 - $400.00.

All total, with no insurance, no company assistance, no VA ... (6 weeks to 6 months) ... getting a deceased trucker home runs an average of nearly $2,500.00!!

SOMETIMES ... the local family funeral home will pick up the costs just to get the remains home. SOMETIMES ... they want payment UPFRONT!!

There is no law, statute, regulation, ordinance or any other written or unwritten rule that says your employer must help if tragedy strikes. None.

Trucking can be and sometime is a very dangerous profession. I've been doing it since "82 and would never wish to do anything else. I guess my point here is to remind everyone to check the paperwork, look at the company policy on death, injury, emergencies at home and BE PREPARED!

Many of the phone calls we receive are from new widows not knowing where to turn or what to do.

Should admin allow it, we are www.truckersfinalmile.org.

We operate only on the donations we receive.

Thank you for your time, and be safe.

Robert Palm, Founder truckersfinalmile.org Respect and Dignity for North American Truck Drivers 888.857.7871 robert@truckersfinalmile.org Facebook@truckersfinalmile.org and a rare tweet @finalmiledotorg

And "thanks" to TruckingTruth for all the support!

truckersfinalmile.org is an IRS recognized 501 (c) (3) Charity Organization. Our Mission is to reunite North American Truck Drivers and Their Family in Times of Crisis. Our in-depth and informative website at www.truckersfinalmile.org details our Programs, our policies, and has every organizational structure document published.

This 2015 Holiday Season, we are launching our inaugural "Sleigh Bells and Santa" Christmas campaign. This is for trucker kids 18 and younger that will be experiencing their first Christmas after the loss of a CDL holder parent out on the road. Additionally, we will be granting wishes of trucker kids that are terminally ill.

We set the goal of $50,000 this year. I don't know how you could ease the heartache of not having Mom or Dad there for Christmas, but I do believe that we could ease that pain just a bit ...

This is open to all faiths and beliefs. To benefit from this campaign, send a detailed email to sleighbells@truckersfinalmile.org by December 10th 2015. Loss eligibility is December 10th 2014, through December 10th, 2015. We will be making announcements on December 18th 2015 via email and on our Facebook.com/truckersfinalmile page. And of course, amounts dispersed under this campaign depend on amount raised and number of kids entered.

Except for those dang transaction fees charged to us for doing this, 100% of all monies raised exclusively at www.gofundme.com/sleighbells WILL BE distributed. As of this writing, we have only raised $510.00 and have nine kids signed up ... so we need your help!

truckersfinalmile.org has Programs designed to get a trucker home in events of death on the road, to get your family to you if your severely injured, experience a sudden onset emergency medical episode, or if you need to get home in case of emergency there. Please see our website for details and to donate to our general fund.

So, if you have that "pay it forward" spirit for the Holidays and aren't sure where to do it, would you consider a financial gift to the trucker kids this year? Donate exclusively at www.gofundme.com/sleighbells. You will be emailed a receipt from the Charity automatically and your contribution is tax deductible as law allows.

We thank everyone at truckingtruth for this opportunity.

Robert Palm, Founder truckersfinalmile.org Respect and Dignity for North American Truck Drivers

Robert, may I copy this and post it in our dispatch and break rooms?

-mountain girl

yes you may, thank you

It has been several months. Somehow, it's been several months. My how time flies. (Probably going to use all 5500 characters here)

We received our initial support, (and donations) from Brett and the gang here on truckingtruth. I continually praise, recommend, and always consider these guys friends, albeit never met, friends and supporters. This is by far, the finest site for truck drivers new and old to find a good home.

Sixteen months ago, I founded truckersfinalmile.org, a Charity for North American Truck Drivers and their families.

While doing this, I am also an over the road 48 state hammer lane produce train rooster cruizin reefer hauler ... and have been in, on, around, or through this industry since 1982.

I just wanted to stop by and update everyone on the Charity.

truckersfinalmile.org is an IRS recognized 501 (c) (3) Charity organization with a MISSION to reunite North American Truck Drivers with Their Family in Times of crisis. After some "build" time, our Mission now consists seven specific Programs. Although written, Program 7 is the only one not currently active.

It's important to note that we are NOT a club, nor an association. We have no dues. No subscriptions, no annual renewals, no application fee, nothing like that. We do not sell ribbons, t-shirts, stickers or anything else we have to spend money on. We do not have a committee to decide whether or not you qualify at a later date. We are not political. We have no opinion on anything ever. And, we don't discriminate in any way.

Here's what we do. First, we operate by donations. No donations, no operation. Our transparency and honesty is paramount and second to none. Since we started operations on 01 May 2014, we have said no to eleven requests for help. We have fulfilled our Mission, twice in that time. The reason for denial, no funds.

ANY, CDL holder (or Canadian or Mexican equivalent) when in the course of their employment or self employment and their family members, qualify for any of our Programs. Real simple. But honestly .... you never want to benefit from what we do.

Program 1: Should any CDL holder perish, regardless of cause or fault: we will provide immediate travel for the next of kin and one accompanying person to the location where the event occurred, up to five days lodging, and ground transportation as needed. Let's say a trucker from Denver dies in a crash in Atlanta. We would verify, consult with the next of kin on best scheduled air fare to Atlanta, lodging in Atlanta for up to five days, and ground transportation in both cities. Afterward, we would also ship the drivers remains home. (this could be ANY cause of death ... crash was just an example .... heart attack, murder, suicide, whatever ... cause and/or fault is not judged!) (Travel accommodations are for TWO! We don't want a grieving next of kin traveling alone)

Program 2: Same as above in cases of serious injury. Length of time is the same. Travel, lodging, ground transportation. If you have to have emergency surgery for example because of injury sustained in an accident, we could have her holding your hand when you awake in recovery.

Program 3: Same as number 2, but this is for emergency onset medical episodes. Such as stroke, heart attack, appendix, basically where you are hospitalized away from home. Key words. Hospitalized. Admitted.

Program 4: Transportation for the driver to get home in event of ANY verified emergency at home. House fire, kids severely injured, passing of a parent, etcetera. But, we do not, and can not offer any storage arrangements for any truck, trailer, or load. We DO NOT get you home if your quitting your job or abandoning your truck. Nor do we pay anybody's bills.

Program 5: For those CDL holders that lose their career due to debilitating injury on the road, and need accessibility modifications done to their primary residence.

Program 6: For next of kin of a CDL holder killed in a vehicle collision (of any type), a $1,000.00 check delivered within 24 hours of event notification with no restrictions of its use. BASED ON FUNDS AVAILABILITY ONLY!!

Program 7: (Not an active Program at this time) Free grief counseling 24/7

I'm running out of characters rapidly ..... These Programs restore Respect and Dignity to North American Truck Drivers. They also give assuredly and confidence to families that "Honey what if something happens while you're on the road?" happens, that an organization exists ready to help.

We are the only one of this type of Charity. And I invite you to thoroughly check us out on our website at Trucker's Final Mile

Every required, and many not required documents pertaining to our Programs, our Policies, and our organizational Structure are openly published.

Links to Charity "watchdogs" and other places where we have been reviewed, registered, or otherwise discussed are also on the site.

Search us, google us, scrutinize us. And then, when you consider a gift to any Charity, keep us in mind. Your initial, recurring donations are tax deductible, and you do not have to be a CDL holder to donate.

We are on Facebook at truckersfinalmile.org. We are on twitter, but rarely @finalmiledotorg. We use the hastag #truckerslivesmatter, we have a youtube video, search truckersfinalmile.org, we are on Facebook causes, on GoFundMe, Guide Star, Just Give and more ....

Robert Palm, Founder

thanks Brett

A Solution in The Works ...

Greetings

Although I prefer the word "young" as opposed to "new" ... there is a new Charity that answers these questions. "Rolling Thunder" would have had his situation verified within four hours (usually) and would have been on the next plane (within his schedule)..... had he not already been heading that way.... to Tennessee. Now we don't make provision for load or truck securement, but with cooperation with his dispatch, mutually agreeable arrangements could be made.

Our distinct Mission is to reunite North American Truck Drivers with Their Family in times of crisis.

And I am jumping in here because "Rolling Thunder's" situation is exactly what we address.

My name is Robert Palm and I founded www.truckersfinalmile.org earlier this year. We are an IRS recognized 501 (c) (3) Charity. I am an current OTR long haul left lane produce train type ... out 4- 6 weeks at a time and myself, the bride, and a great group of otherwise employed volunteer Board of Directors are passionately working hard to get this Charity going for everyone.

Our website explains it all .... please go and take a look for yourself. There is a link to our Facebook page, and there you will find all my personal contact information or we can continue here ... don't know how to link it ... but I'm sure the guys will link our thread ... thanks!

And get well soon mini "Rolling Thunder"

"Honey, what if something happens while your out on the road??"

A question asked every day in this industry. Each year, truckload carriers tally up about 430-450 BILLION miles, generating about 260 Billion in annual revenues.

Yeah ... that's a lot of money. But how many families TODAY have enough cash in reserves in case of an emergency on the road? You?

It's the weekend, and as holidays approach, fewer and fewer managerial types are going to be available to authorize advances .. if they do at all. (Because your last check just paid the bills)

So, what if the stress of the road, the bills, the lack of home time, the weather, the dam radiator wont stop leaking ... what if that stress finally reaches him while he sleeps in his bunk tonight?

How are YOU going to get to HIM. Right NOW??

truckersfinalmile.org is an IRS recognized 501 (c) (3) Charity that has been Founded by a 30+ year veteran of the Trucking Industry. Our distinct Mission is to reunite North American Truck Drivers with their family in times of crisis.

We have no membership fee. No dues. No application fee. No enrollment fee. There is no committee that meets every so often to decide your eligibility. There is no prerequisite other than being a CDL holder (or equivalent) in the course of employment or self employment. You can be a lineman doing repairs after a storm in a distant town as part of a mutual aid agreement, a forest fire fighter helping in another State, a first day driver, a 40 year over the road veteran ...

And to those fellow drivers out here on the road ... what if something were to happen to your loved at home. How are YOU going to get THERE?

DO your research of us. Read our website at www.truckersfinalmile.org ... it is very in depth and will answer most questions you may have about our programs, our policies, and our organizational structure. ALL pertinent documents are published.

This week, we will be doing another press release trying to garner up some more "awareness" of our Mission, our existence, and our need. Until then, I am asking everyone to like, share, follow, (the comment switch is on), and tell your friends, coworkers, your church congregation, and especially your boss about us. We need a big sponsor/donor to help us get it rolling!

For interfacing ease, GoFundMe.com/truckersfinalmile is a simple way to donate. (The fees to us are higher, and it takes a while to actually get the money) or you can donate on the website at www.truckersfinalmile.org/donate/paypal. Yes, it's a paypay portal, but it does allow credit/debit card transaction. Either of these will generate both a email receipt and a printable receipt for your records.

And of course, snail mail to truckersfinalmile, P.O. Box 53624, Albuquerque, NM 87153.

We have had to turn away six requests for assistance due to lack of funding in our short period of existence. Please help us prevent having to turn away any others.

Your time, your sharing, and your initial and recurring donations are very greatly appreciated!

Thank you

Robert Palm, Founder truckersfinalmile.org 505 288 2282 robert@truckersfinalmile.org

truckersfinalmile.org is a 501 (c) (3) non profit organization committed to reuniting North American Truck Drivers and their family in times of crisis.

We have no membership fees, no application fees, no fees of any kind what so ever and those receiving benefit of our Charity will never be "billed". We do not discriminate in any manner. Race, relationship status, financial position, religious preference, political view, cause of event, none .... none of these is ever factored in whether or not benefits are distributed.

And, we have no "review committee". Our all volunteer Board of Directors is actively and daily engaged in the operation of this Charity. Benefits can be distributed within HOURS!

The ONLY reason we can not deliver benefits under any of our programs would be due to lack of funds availability.

And in our short history, we have turned down five requests for assistance. And we don't want to do that again.

Your financial support is what makes our programs work . Please take the time to review our in depth website where everything is fully explained, where our structural documents can be found, and where most of any questions can be answered.

Should you consider our Charity as the recipient of your financial gift this Holiday Season, donations can be made at GoFundMe.com/truckersfinalmile, on our website at truckersfinalmile.org, by check or money order to truckersfinalmile, P.O. Box 53624, Albuquerque, NM 87153. You do NOT need to be a Trucker to Donate!

To offer large items, such as cars, trucks, office furniture, or to have any question answered, please call Robert at 505 288 2282 or email robert@truckersfinalmile.org. (I am an Over the Road Driver myself so if I don't respond right away, be patient ... I will get back to you!)

Today, we ask that you continue to like, follow, share, (and share again) so that we can continue to spread the word about truckersfinalmile. Your time reading these posts, sharing them, and talking about us with others is very greatly appreciated.

Have a good and safe week.

Robert Palm, Founder truckersfinalmile.org

This is our Monday 17 November 2014 Facebook Page post. Thanks to everyone at TruckingTruth for making this forum possible!!

Robert

truckersfinalmile.org is a 501 (c) (3) non profit organization committed to reuniting North American Truck Drivers and their family in times of crisis.

We have no membership fees, no application fees, no fees of any kind what so ever and those receiving benefit of our Charity will never be "billed". We do not discriminate in any manner. Race, relationship status, financial position, religious preference, political view, cause of event, none .... none of these is ever factored in whether or not benefits are distributed.

And, we have no "review committee". Our all volunteer Board of Directors is actively and daily engaged in the operation of this Charity. Benefits can be distributed within HOURS!

The ONLY reason we can not deliver benefits under any of our programs would be due to lack of funds availability.

And in our short history, we have turned down five requests for assistance. And we don't want to do that again.

Your financial support is what makes our programs work . Please take the time to review our in depth website where everything is fully explained, where our structural documents can be found, and where most of any questions can be answered.

Should you consider our Charity as the recipient of your financial gift this Holiday Season, donations can be made at GoFundMe.com/truckersfinalmile, on our website at truckersfinalmile.org, by check or money order to truckersfinalmile, P.O. Box 53624, Albuquerque, NM 87153. You do NOT need to be a Trucker to Donate!

To offer large items, such as cars, trucks, office furniture, or to have any question answered, please call Robert at 505 288 2282 or email robert@truckersfinalmile.org. (I am an Over the Road Driver myself so if I don't respond right away, be patient ... I will get back to you!)

Today, we ask that you continue to like, follow, share, (and share again) so that we can continue to spread the word about truckersfinalmile. Your time reading these posts, sharing them, and talking about us with others is very greatly appreciated.

Have a good and safe week.

Robert Palm, Founder truckersfinalmile.org

Ladies and Gentleman,

Would you please take atleast 10 minutes today and do some research over at the Trucker's Final Mile? When you finish, come back on over here and let's talk about it. I want to hear your thoughts, questions, comments, and concerns. I want to hear what you like or dislike about the charity. We can even get a good debate going if needed. Just tell me whatever comes to your mind after visiting their site. Your comments below would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Greetings everyone. My name is Robert Palm, and I am the Founder of truckersfinalmile.org. First, I want to thank Anchorman and everyone else that makes this platform available so that we can all be involved in multiple topics, discussions, and just general awareness of what's going on in our industry. And as it pertains to truckersfinalmile.org, I also invite and encourage this dialog.

truckersfinalmile.org is a 501 (c) (3) Charity devoted to reuniting North American Truck Drivers with their families in times of crisis.

We currently have four Programs to serve our clients ... 1st pertains to getting next of kin to a drivers location in event of loss of life; 2nd gets family to the driver in event of serious traumatic injury; third gets family to driver in event of major medical issue, such as a heart attack; and 4th; get the driver home in event of any of the above that may happen to his/her family. Each of these are explained in depth on our websites "Programs" page, and has (most) questions answered on our "Policies" page.

Two additional programs are in development: one which would provide a handicap accessible vehicle(s) to a driver(s) in need (once we begin receiving donated vehicles we would auction/sell them to purchase a van .. for example) and the other program would retrofit a drivers home should he/she become in such need as a result of a industry related incident.

Recent figures from various government agencies show that 852 commercial drivers were killed in collisions in 2013 and another +- 20,000 injured. Now that 20,000 number injured likely means "transported by ambulance" under the definitions of a "reportable" crash. That's just accidents. Add in deaths by homicide, suicide, falling freight, heart attacks and all other instances and the true numbers may be thousands of deaths each year and nearly 100,000 injured or maimed in some way. Let that sit in a moment.

We say "North American" Drivers. The numbers above are just from the U.S. Freight no longer has borders. Thus nor shall we. Any Mexican Driver operating in the States, any Canadian Driver operating in the States, and any U.S. Driver operating in Canada is covered in our programs.

truckersfinalmile.org is unique to our scope and our programs. We are willing to work with any other Charity for the benefit of Truck Drivers and their families. And on the "Partnership" page of our website, we openly invite them.

Our website, truckersfinalmile.org is in depth, in detail, and is very transparent of our Mission, Structure, and legal documentations. What is not yet published on the site are these items: 1, our 888 number. Why? Because we have already had to turn down four requests for assistance due to no funding, and 2, our Federally Required form 990 . Why? Because we haven't completed a fiscal year yet (31 Dec 14) thus its not required. Everything else is published on the website. The form 990 will be published once filed.

We can not have our website bombarded with advertisement. We have a "sponsors" page and a "links" page for that. Links to other sites are published with permission only. We intend to have an "air" of reverence on our site.

... We need funding. We have to establish an office (other than my garage) so people can answer the phones 24/7/365. (any hiring preference goes to Drivers that have lost their career due to injury) and we need computers with monitors .... associations like the BBB and a major trucking association charge big money to become members ... we have a lot of print material to have printed (there are over 3300 counties in the U.S. and we need to let 1st responders know we exist. ) And a huge NO ... we do not, and will not, employ any of those "fundraiser wannabees" that gouge 70 - 80 percent of your financial gift!

So, we, the esteemed all volunteer Board of Directors and myself, invite and encourage all of you to follow the Anchorman's recommendation to please review our website, ask any question you have, offer any criticism and or complaint (we already had one and addressed it right away), maybe offer a good luck wish, like, follow and share facebook/truckersfinalmile.org .... and of course DONATE!!! (p.s) if your not the boss .. tell the boss ... we could really use a good "get it started" contributing sponsor!

I am doing this from the truck. Yeah. An over the road reefer yanker running all 48. I check email, this thread, facebook, as often as I can. Your responses and/or questions aren't being ignored. I WILL get back to you!

Thank you all again for the opportunity to help put truckersfinalmile.org "out there"

see our article in "The Trucker" 15 October edition

Donate to: truckersfinalmile.org/donate/paypal

Yes old school has it right. A couple of points to consider on getting a CDL ... "Company Paid" training may (may not) require a contract of employment. They might "own" you for the first year ... or call every one of your references every day looking for their money if you drop out. Or that loan you just took out .. watch out for "Colleges" and such that are getting into CDL Training ... it may take a semester (or two) .... and something no one else seems to realize ... yet ... look at the license plate on that community college tractor trailer! In some states ... if their budget comes from the "State" ... they may have a government plate ... and if they do ,,, some third party examiners may (may not) "restrict" your CDL to government vehicles only and you will have to retest (in a representative vehicle) to get that "restriction" removed ... just like testing in an automatic.

"Owning" your CDL is important. Smaller private truck driving schools that are "accredited" are much better! But in my opinion, all "behind the wheel" training (at least 1and 1/2 hrs a day) should be one on one. If there are seats in the sleeper .... (or if there is no sleeper) stay away. The Federal Motor Carrier Regs state that a sleeper berth "must be equipped for sleeping..." how does a sleeper with seats conform with that???

Anyway, my point is to buy your own CDL. Own it. Earn it. There will be many changes in training over the next year, regulations will allow cross state training where a permit will be good outside your home state. These larger companies that are putting two trainees with a student in a truck will be more prevalent. (and its common knowledge the C.R. England allows their "trainers" to take "team" students on the road.) Class sizes will become bigger and instructor to student ratios (should NEVER be more than 5:1 in the "yard" or 1:1 in the truck) will take the biggest hit .... which will mean more students just squeaking by the "system" and pushed out here on the road. AND ... that instructor that trains you should NOT be the one that tests you. Third party CDL Examiners only! ... I would insist on one not employed/associated with/by that school ....

Major companies have found the golden bucket at the end of the rainbow when it comes to training new drivers. Add in words like, veteran, temporary employee (because they allow you to operate a CMV during training you are an "employee" even though you may not be hired yet ...) and other grants etcetera ... their tax breaks and their credit ratings soar when their student numbers are high.

Good luck Jerry and be safe ....