It’s always hard to ask for money. But when your passion for the cause overrides your reticence you just have to squish down those scary thoughts and do it.
So I am.
There are lots and lots of families out there going through unimaginable pain. But I can imagine it, because my family is one of them. When dad was killed December 23rd, 2004 our lives shattered. We’ve patched things back together over the 20 years but you can still see, and always will see, the mended cracks.
Other families out there need support and advice and shoring up. Also hugs. The hugs we can give for free but the rest takes money. So I’m asking you to donate today, Giving Tuesday. Please give with heart, give with love.
Giving Tuesday, an annual event that started on Facebook (I think) and has since morphed into all sorts of activities, is coming up. Always the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, this year it will be December 2.
My dad as a young man.
For the past several years I’ve used the date to raise funds for the Truck Safety Coalition, and I will this year too. I like to give you all a heads up before so that you can do your research and think about where you’d like to donate your hard earned money.
As always I remind everyone that large truck crashes aren’t partisan. The semi that slams into the back of your car doesn’t care whether you’re Republican or Democrat. It doesn’t care what race or gender or religion you are. It’s irrelevant whether you have family waiting for you at home or only your pet dog.
Still way before me.
Dad lived alone back in 2004 when he put his suitcase in the trunk of his car and headed for the Atlanta airport in the predawn hours of December 23rd. He didn’t know he’d never make it to the airport. I picture him pulling up the driveway for that last time, blissfully unaware of what waited for him.
More than 5,000 people die in crashes involving large trucks every year. More than 100,000 are injured. It’s not all the trucking industry’s fault, some of it is caused by those of us in cars doing stupid things. Both sides of that issue warrent additional vigilance on the road.
For the record, dad was slowed in traffic that was being guided around a previous wreck when he was hit from behind by a semi driven by a sleepy driver who didn’t see all the traffic stopped ahead of him.
The Truck Safety Coalition was there for my family 20 years ago and it’s still there for families that have been turned upside down by a crash. TSC provides support and advice and the opportunity to use their grief to make change for the better.
The obligitory church photo.
So I’m asking you to consider donating to the Truck Safety Coalition for Giving Tuesday this year. I’ll post again with a link soon. You don’t have to wait until December 5th to donate, but you can if you want to.
I’ll be sure to remind you.
Dad, ever on my mind and especially as we approach his crash anniversary, tells me to tell you thanks for the years of support you’ve given me and my family. And thanks for considering making a donation this year too.
Summer is flying by, and soon it will be September when the Truck Safety Coalition holds it annual fundraising dinner, and then it will be November when we ask our friends and family to donate through Giving Tuesday, and then it will be December when we make that last push to meet our funding goals.
Because I’m on TSC’s board I’m hyper aware of the need to fundraise, but before we get into this end of year cycle where I’m asking you for your support I just wanted to say thank you.
Thank you for the dollars you sent us at the end of 2024 when I was asking for support at our dinner. Thank you for going online when I was working the Giving Tuesday platform. Thank you for putting checks in the mail, directly to them or to me.
It feels just like yesterday that so many of you were actively engaged with my cause making it, at least for the moment, your cause too. It makes me feel less alone in the fight.
I don’t remember if I told you about our dinner last September. When I got up to speak I looked around at that crowded banquet room, at all the faces there. Crash survivors, victims’ families, TSC staff members, attorneys, other safety related non-profits, friends, Congressional staffers concerned about the issues, all these people were intermingled at the tables, and I thought….”We are not alone.”
And I said this out loud, I asked the victims’ families and survivors to look around. I told them our work is hard and sometimes it feels lonely, but look around at all these people here to support us. We are not alone. Our family members and our previous lives have not been forgotten.
And that’s how you make me feel too. So I wanted to say a simple thank you — without any ask attached.
A friend of mine made cards for me, using a photo of my parents and me taken a few decades ago. Who knew back then what I’d be working on now? I sent the cards to people I knew had donated last year, if I had an address. I would have sent them to all of you, but I know some of you wonderful people only online.
Think about how amazing that is.
You know me only online and still you support the cause that means so much to me…saving people’s lives, reducing truck crashes, supporting families, and spreading the word to be careful when you’re driving.
I know I’ll be back soon, asking for money to support our work. And once in awhile I’m sure I’ll be on my soapbox again. But for now, thank you all so much for listening and letting me ramble.
The deaths and injury numbers are going up, we can’t stop now.
Remember when you were a kid and stores did the big Christmas in July sales? I don’t know if that happens anymore, but this 4th of July holiday weekend I was doing a lot of Christmas-y painting.
For our September silent auction at Truck Safety Coalition fundraiser.
The Truck Safety Coalition is getting ready to put on their 3rd annual fundraising dinner and silent auction. Both years we’ve done this I’ve donated 3 sets of cards, 5 in a set, to be auctioned off. This year I feel like I don’t have much new to give, though I suppose if I dig through my notes I have painted new stuff since last September.
Did these months ago and shipped them off to seniors at nursing homes.
Anyway I decide to paint at least one set of holiday cards, and I’ll be including stamps for all of the cards I donate. I don’t know that people are really sending cards and personal mail anymore, but I hope these find good homes.
Painted these this spring and sent off to seniors.
Now I’m debating. Should the next set of cards be whimsical cats and/or dogs? Or should I do flowers and birds like I usually do? Or, should I do a set of birthday cards? What do you think will get the best bids?
Regardless of your politics, if you’d met him, you’d have liked him. Messages of love and loss are coming from across the country after Rep Connolly’s death yesterday. Most of them are from famous people, members of Congress, the Biden Administration, leaders from many walks of life.
I’m just one person, part of a safety coalition, who met him once, two years ago. But let me tell you a little about that meeting so you can understand what a huge loss this is.
Members of the Truck Safety Coalition were putting on our very first big fundraiser, and we planned on presenting Representative Connolly an award for his steadfast support of our work, particularly and most recently, pushing for a bill to require the United States Post Office to take responsibility for hiring safe carriers when they contract mail movement out.
Representative Connolly couldn’t make it to our evening dinner, so a few of us went to his office to present the award. I’ve presented a lot of awards to members of Congress in my years with Truck Safety. Many times you end up giving it to a staffer who will hand it off to the Member later. Sometimes you get a meeting with the Member, generally something short and sweet. You say your thing, they smile, and say thank you, then you pose for the obligatory picture and you’re off to the next meeting.
On that September day back in 2023, Representative Connolly’s staff ushered us into his office where we sat on his couches and waited a minute for him to arrive. Standing when he did, there were introductions and handshakes all around. We did the award, got the picture and were preparing to leave when he looked around at us and said —
“Can you folks stay for awhile?”
And so we sank back onto the couches and chatted. He told stories. We told stories. He listened. We spent maybe 20 or 30 minutes with him. One of our young mothers, who’s college aged med school son had been killed by a semi, told her story.
The Congressman cried. So did we.
When we left, all of us crammed into a small office vestibule saying goodbye, he hugged her for a long time, both of them sniffling.
That’s the man we met a little over two years ago. And listening to people’s stories now that he’s gone, I’m pretty sure that’s the man everybody met. There aren’t many of those kind of people left in Congress.
The country should stop and think of Rep Connolly this week, think of his family and his staff and his friends. They’re all going to miss him so much. And while you’re at it, think about all of us, because we’ve all lost another valiant fighter for good.
May he rest in peace. I already know his memory is a blessing.
Many of you know the story about my dad and the semi-truck. I wish I could say I wrote a kids’ book about a daddy driving a big truck.
Dad and his baby sister.
But that’s not the way it went.
In reality my dad was driving to the Atlanta airport December 23, 2004, a plane ticket in his shirt pocket, heading north to spend Christmas with his family.
He loved water his entire life.
Around 6 a.m. with an hour to go, he was hit from behind by a semi-truck who’s driver didn’t notice all the traffic slowing in front of him.
A college man.
Dad never had a chance.
The semi driver said he fell asleep after driving all night, trying to get a load of electronics to Atlanta for Christmas sales. His dispatcher had enticed him to make a deadline in Atlanta in order to have another truck ready for him to drive to Florida, getting him home to his family for Christmas.
A married man.
My dad didn’t get to spend Christmas with his family. The driver didn’t get to spend Christmas with his family either, he spent it in jail. My siblings and I spent Christmas in shock, sitting in dad’s house, looking at the Christmas tree he’d put up before he left.
Trying to make sense of it all.
A new father.
And in the following months we found the Truck Safety Coalition, made up of CRASH, (Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways), and PATT (Parents Against Tired Truckers). It’s a group of people who have had similar experiences with large commercial trucks.
A dad and his girls.
Sons, daughters, grandkids, parents, friends, spouses, nobody is immune, we all travel our roads alongside big trucks. TSC supports survivors and victims’ families. It educates policy makers on common sense changes that need to be made to make us all, truck drivers included, safer.
A family man.
But we can’t do any of it without financial support. We’re a 501c3 nonprofit. We struggle, as do many groups, to fund the activities that give families hope. Giving Tuesday is one of our biggest fundraising days.
This year it’s on December 3rd.
Everybody growing up.
And, this year, we’re trying something a bit different. In addition to using the Facebook platform, we’re asking folks to donate directly to us. Here’s the link to my personal fundraising page: https://secure.qgiv.com/event/trucksafetycoalitionpeertopeer/account/1899034/. Give it a click and see dad’s story and my progress toward my goal.
You don’t have to wait until December 3rd to donate. We’re starting our campaign right now. In fact you could be my very first donor!
Always interested, always busy.
I said it on Facebook the other evening; I fully believe that Dad says thank you to everyone that has supported me and my siblings all these twenty years. We needed you and you were there. And along the way I’ve met even more supportive people. You’ve all helped me help TSC to continue the work that helped us in our worst moments.
Retired.
The circle of support continues. Round and round, as you helped us, we are supporting the new families who keep on coming. Truck crashes continue, families are irreversibly changed, we provide support, and in time, they grow and get stronger and provide support for the next family.
More than 5,000 people die in commercial truck crashes each year. More than 100,000 people are injured. There are so many families.
We are working hard to help as many families as we can, and it all begins with your support. So thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, from the bottom of my dad’s heart.
Today is Giving Tuesday. Go to Facebook and donate to your favorite charity.
Trust me, the staff and volunteers will appreciate it! Every dollar counts!
In my own fundraising campaign we’re making progress. I’m over $800 of my $1500 goal. I’m so thankful for every dollar and every person who donates. I’m also appreciative of every one of you that sends me virtual (and real) hugs and warm thoughts and comforting messages.
Never think you don’t make a difference. You all do.
A week from Tuesday is Facebook’s Giving Tuesday. I’ll be putting up a fundraiser for the Truck Safety Coalition like I have for the past few years.
This year feels different than past years where I’ve promoted an upcoming Giving Tuesday off an on for a few weeks. This year there are other things going on in my life and Giving Tuesday has kind of snuck up on me.
Heck the whole holiday season has snuck up on me.
Regardless, I know many of you will support my effort to raise some funds for the Truck Safety Coalition. (If you didn’t read this post about our latest fundraiser, please give it a look.) You’re so good that way, supportive of an issue most people can’t imagine ever touching their own family.
That’s how we felt too, until it did.
I feel like a broken record when I say over and over that truck crashes are indiscriminate. They happen to people in all parts of the country, in every community, every religion, every political viewpoint. Young people, old people, people with kids. People’s kids. Nobody is immune.
So, next week, on Giving Tuesday, please take a moment and think about all of us in the Truck Safety family, a family we never wanted to join, but a family we’re all so very grateful to have found.
Sadly there have been new families joining us this year, people we need to comfort and support. Your dollars do that.
Thank you for supporting my mission to help those families, and to work on changing the way things are on our roads.
And thank you for supporting me, even when I’m on my soapbox.
Spreading the word.
Note: images in today’s post are from my last walk at Shiawasee Nature Preserve. I haven’t had time to share them with you, and I thought you’d like the distraction from such a serious topic.
Long time readers know that my dad was killed by a tired trucker almost twenty years ago and I and members of my family volunteer with the Truck Safety Coalition, working to make our roads safer.
My dad and me many years ago.
TSC is based in Washington DC, but has families of volunteers all across the country. Of course it does, because truck crashes aren’t restricted to ‘somewhere else’ like we all want to believe.
Truck crashes happen anywhere and to anyone.
Flags at half mast for Senator Feinstein.
It takes money to keep our organization going, to pay our small staff, to help families come to DC for conferences or important meetings, to pay for grief counseling for those that want that help, to run the website that provides information to new families, and where we post our stories about the loved ones we lost and about the lives changed forever for those injured in crashes with trucks.
It takes money.
And it’s not so easy to raise money for our cause. Organizations that might have sympathy for our families, like truck part manufacturers, can’t be seen associating with us, because many of the truck companies they sell parts to are so often on the other side of our arguments. Trailer manufacturers sell to truck companies too and steer clear of us, as do some road safety equipment manufacturers and many others.
It’s hard to explain that we aren’t anti truck, we support safe trucking. It’s important to remember that truck drivers die in crashes too, and that driving a truck is one of the most dangerous jobs in our country.
The halls of Congress where we look for support for safety.
A lot of our funding comes from individuals who have had family or friends injured or killed as well as survivors of truck crashes. The people that have already paid the price for unsafe policies and regulations continue to pay in an effort to make things better.
Every single family will tell you they continue to tell their stories, continue to come to meetings, continue to donate because they don’t want another family to experience a truck crash. Every single family comes to TSC with the same wish in their hearts.
To make it stop.
The Washington Monument during a walk after our event.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that over 5,700 people died in truck related crashes in 2021, the latest year from which we have data. That’s a 71% increase since 2009. Truck crashes are trending the wrong way. More people are being killed every year. And injuries are going up too, over 155,000 are injured every year.
Think about that. Every single year 155,000 people are injured in truck crashes. Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions, has 65,000 seats. Every year 2.3 football stadiums of people are injured in truck crashes. And the numbers keep climbing.
So this past weekend my husband and I traveled, on our own dime, to DC where we attended an evening of celebration of those that have contributed to TSC. Donors, safety advocates, board members, friends and supporters gathered together to recognize some very special people who, during this past year, have gone above and beyond to move our mission to make our roads safer going forward.
All waiting for something. Just like us.
It was a good evening and we raised some money. We felt warm and happy with our effort, but don’t think I won’t be asking you for support this November during Giving Tuesday. Because 5,700+ people died in 2021, and it will likely be a larger number for 2022 and 2023. Whole football stadiums of people are being injured. We can’t stop now.
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton graciously speaks to our group.
Thank you in advance for supporting me, for the dollars you donate whenever I ask, for your emotional support when I’m having a meltdown, or when I’m just missing my dad. Thank you for letting me get on my soapbox once in awhile, and for not turning away when I tell you about really sad things that make me (and many of you) really angry.
The Capitol at the end of another busy day.
Last weekend was a time of celebration, but now it’s time to get back to work. We’re trying to get the speed limiter past the finish line at the DOT, and we’re working on getting Automatic Emergency Brakes in all trucks sooner rather than later. And don’t get me started on the minimum liability insurance issue. Or those companies that want longer trailers, and the ability to haul heavier loads. There are already triple trailers on some of our nation’s roads and we’re keeping watch so they don’t get permission to move onto more.
Passing a triple trailer truck on the Pennsylvania turnpike.
We need to keep holding our fingers in the truck safety dike. And we need money to do that.
William H. Badger. Feb 4, 1929 – December 23, 2004.
Eighteen years without you is a long time. And no time.
You should have had more time.
Sometimes it feels like we’ve made no progress at all. And sometimes I know we’ve at least stopped some of the unsafe propositions, maybe even made a few inroads toward safety.
Still.
You should have had more time, and we can’t fix that for you or any of the thousands of families trying to move forward with their own grief. Their own new normal. I hate that term.
Eighteen years ago this morning. Last night, laying sleeplessly in bed, I imagined you getting up so very early in the dark morning, making sure the heat was turned down, the water turned off, and the doors locked, putting your suitcase into the trunk of your car and heading toward the airport.
You never got there. You never got to come home.
It’s not right, not for you or for us. Not for the 5,000 plus families that faced similar facts in 2021, or the as yet unnumbered thousands from 2022. And the hundreds of thousands of injured every single year.
We have to keep working, even though we’re all tired.
Change Is Hard 