Northeast Professional Truck Drivers Charity Challenge

A professional truck driving skills competition to benefit the Kids at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Welcome to the 15th annual Northeast Professional Truck Drivers' Charity Challenge!

Sunday, September 8, 2013
Sherman Square
Devens, Massachusetts

2012 Charity Challenge Scores: Class Scores Special Awards

The Charity Challenge is a truck driving skills competition similar to the state and national ATA competitions. All proceeds benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis Tennessee, and all contributions are tax deductible. A minimum donation of $75.00 is required to register for the Charity Challenge, and donations can be fundraised. Any current or retired driver with a valid commercial drivers license can register to compete! You do not need to bring equipment.

Fun for the whole family! We have plenty of activities to keep the kids busy too, including a bike competition. Kids can compete against others in their age group to win free bikes! Check out the Fun For Kids page for a growing list of activities. Cool raffle prizes, food and refreshments are also available all day Sunday!

---------

The 14th Annual Northeast Professional Truck Drivers Charity Challenge was another incredible success! The event last Sunday raised $34,000 for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This event would be impossible without the army of dedicated volunteers, the contributing companies (many who have been with us since the beginning in 1997), and the participating drivers and families who traveled from all over the Northeast to make this event what it is today. Click on the links above to view the complete score sheet and a list of this year’s winners.

There are so many people that help out on the weekend of the event, but special thank you recognition to those who put so much time into this event for the months before Sunday. Thanks to my son Nick for all that you do since the spring, from maintaining the web site to online registration, handling all the computer work for the name badges, driver lists, driver info for the announcer in the morning, the incredible job of collating all the scores on Sunday and having everything ready for the Award Ceremony so quickly after the competition ends. I honestly would be at a loss without your help. Bob Darling does so many things prior to the event that they are impossible to list. Jim Hosey and Bob also designed the course and set it up out in Chicopee with Rich Sweeney long before the event to make sure all the classes could fit through. John Baer worked behind the scenes with me to procure new sponsors and make the numerous calls to current sponsors to verify that they were in for this year. Doug Francey worked all summer to procure the equipment so the right trucks would be on site for the weekend. Rick Sweeney, JR Noel & Lowell Crouse worked the equipment staging area day moving trucks onto the course every two minutes. JR Noel, Ed Bacon and Bill Richford were at the site two weeks before the competition cutting the grass and removing the weeds from the five lots so everything would look good. Denis Litalien worked all summer long with Roger at R & W Engraving to make sure that all the trophies and plaques were just right. That trophy table looked stunning!

Anna Marie, Nate & Claudette Lewis, Mickey & Linda Rafeal were beating the bushes for months to load up the raffle table. Warren Lewis prepared the written test again this year. Debbie Litalien worked the registration area with everyone trying to sign in at once. Brian Singelais worked getting all of the items for the course ready during the summer, making barriers, pinwheels, signs, etc. Mike, Esther, and David Milyaro obtained all the food on Saturday that the volunteers for the NY Champions Council worked to have ready for the hungry masses. Thanks to Bob & Carole Lyman, and Pete & Cynthia Mesick for always being there at the food tent. Thanks to Candy Darling for having the patience to run the Kids Area every year. Candy also drove three hours to pick up the Friendly’s ice cream in Wilbraham Sunday morning before getting to the site to set up the kids games. Tim Carlin and Jim Hosey from CT worked all day Saturday setting up the course and all day Sunday on the course and Pre-trip Inspection. Debbie Schenk & Don & Sandy Herzog made sure of all the thousands in driver donations, raffle funds, and food contributions were accurate and secure. Bob Quinn from FedEx is ready for anything that we ask. Bob had a crew on site on Friday to set up the Step Van course and then run the course for all that wanted to try their hand in the Step Van. Bob again secured a $5000 donation from FedEx and had plenty of equipment delivered to the site.

Then you add to that all the people who show up on Sunday who are willing to work and help out in any way they can, which is almost everyone. Jim Dolliver, our official announcer, made sure we were all set again with the Marine Corp Color Guard, to which he proudly carried the flag. I remember years ago Ozzie Bartlett form Bozzuto’s said to me, “You and the committee spend the time preparing for the event. Those of us who fundraise spend the summer getting donations.” With that in mind, a big thank you to Ozzie Bartlett, John Hoffman, Lowell Crouse, Kenny Meyer and Warren Lewis for the many hours needed to collect the $8,500 that you collectively fundraised, an amazing amount of time and effort. Bob Cooper and crew at Big Top Party Rental fought high winds on Saturday setting up the big tent and John Olden at Ratta again made sure our bathrooms were clean and on time.

This just covers the volunteers. Check out the Contributors page to see the companies that contributed cash, merchandise and equipment. Without you this event would be impossible. We could not work with a better group of people at St Jude, Mikara Cimmino, Jill Workman, Nicole Bonica, Rebecca Furman. You’re the best! The Charity Challenge works because of the tremendous effort of so many dedicated people. Thank you to all of you for all of the time and effort you put in to making the Charity Challenge a success every year! Click here for a Thank You from the St. Jude team.

Thank you!
Fred

EVENT SPONSORS

The annual Northeast Professional Truck Drivers Charity Challenge is sponsored by the following organizations from across the Northeast region of the country. Their efforts continue to make this a successful event each year.

Massachusetts Professional Truck Drivers Association
Maine Professional Drivers Association
Champions Council of New York
Connecticut Professional Drivers Association
New Hampshire Professional Drivers Association