Trucker Buddy International honored Tulare, CA resident Darrell Hicks Sept. 22 at the fall Truck Maintenance Council meeting in Raleigh, N.C., with an award for his 17 years of outstanding service to Trucker Buddy International.
Uncle Darrell as his friends call him, started with Trucker Buddy in 1993 shortly after Gary King founded it. Although not a trucker, Darrell poured his heart into the program and the Little Rock based Arkansas School for the Blind located in just like a true Trucker Buddy would. Darrell’s job required him to travel long distances, and he faithfully wrote and visited his class over the years developing friendships and relationships that lasts a lifetime.
When Trucker Buddy first started, Gary King asked
Darrell to serve on the Board of Advisors and then on the
first Board of Directors to help Trucker Buddy develop
a firm foundation, one that it depends on to this day. If it
weren’t for Uncle Darrell’s dedication and insight, then
Trucker Buddy might not be here today.
Member, tells the story of how Darrell arranged to have a
truck come to his adopted school during his class visit. The
students were blind so they couldn’t see it but they wanted to
feel it. When they ran their hands across the rivets they kept
saying “L.” No one could figure it out until someone said that
the rivets on the truck formed the Braille letter L and that is why the children were repeating the character’s name. It teaches us that young students see things from a different perspective.
Uncle Darrell has been under the weather and couldn't make the trip but some very good friends (Paul Ableson and Greg Shipman) stood in his place and accepted the Outstanding Service Award for his 17 years of dedicated service.
