By Al Muskewitz
 
When a trucking company closes its doors the timing, regardless of the rumors, is sudden and the impact, especially if it’s a big company, is far-reaching. No time is a good time for the employees affected, but it’s particularly devastating during the holidays.
 
Drivers are stranded in out of the way places and, in many cases, left to their own devices to get back home. To say nothing of the uncertainty it places on the families.
 
The announcement of Celadon’s bankruptcy came suddenly, and the trucking community answered the call.
 
A lot of groups and individuals surfaced to render some kind of assistance and support to some 3,000 drivers impacted by the largest truckload bankruptcy in history. One developing non-profit organization, Teddy’s Trucker’s Association, has stepped up with an effort to bring all those systems together in one consolidated social media location.
 
The group’s founder, Bridgette Reinsmith, created a Celadon Closure Assistance and Jobs Facebook page to “connect Celadon drivers and support staff … to assistance and job opportunities.”
 
Celadon has nearly 3,000 trucks in its fleet, which dominates the I-35 corridor from Laredo to the Midwest, with heavy emphasis in the automotive sector. It has 2,500 drivers, works with 380 owner-operators and has some 1,300 administrative employees, most of whom work at the company’s Indianapolis, Ind., headquarters.
 
Reinsmith said she’s been “floored” by the response the Closure Assistance page has received. In the first 48 hours of its launch, the page drew nearly 1,300 members, many of them drivers offering transportation to their stranded brothers, carriers offering to hire the displaced drivers or give them rides home, and drivers simply telling their stories.
 
Celadon has been buying bus tickets home for drivers who can get their trucks to a terminal, but that’s not always possible. Teddy’s Trucker’s had been able to connect people when fuel cards were suspended and has started a GoFundMe page to help get drivers home. One page poster from Alabama has offered plane tickets and storage facilities to stranded drivers. Another from Colorado offered help with fuel.
 
“It’s brought me to tears at times,” Reinsmith said of the response. “It definitely warms my heart knowing this trucking community has absolutely come together to support these drivers in this time of need and hopefully we can support the rest of their employees in the same way.
 
“They didn’t just have employees in the U.S., they’re in Canada and, from what I understand, Mexico as well. We’ve been working to try and connect drivers who have been in Texas to get them home in Canada. Not just them, them and their pets. It absolutely is logistics and people willing to translate and do it out of the kindness of their hearts, not for any other reason.”
 
Richard Campbell of Campbell’s 24-Hour Towing & Recovery and the I-65 Truck Repair Center in Cullman, Ala., was offering the plane tickets and storage availability. His son, Tyler, said his father was moved by the drivers’ plight, particularly with it occurring so close to the Christmas holiday.
 
“We have helped these drivers for many years on the side of the road in many situations," Richard said. "It only seems right to continue on doing so until they get home with their family for the holidays."
 
It was Reinsmith’s vision to launch Teddy’s Trucker’s Association early in 2020 to help drivers and their families in any time of need, but the Celadon situation accelerated their mission and exposure.
 
“It wasn’t about us,” she said. “It was all about the driver … There might be companies, might be organizations, that will help some; we’re just trying to fill in the gaps.”
 
The association takes its name from the Red Sovine’s 1976 heart-tugger “Teddy Bear.”
 
When it takes flight Teddy’s Trucker’s Association will be a membership-based organization, which will help fund initiatives going forward. The Facebook page is an outlet for information related to the current situation.
 
It’s a moving world. Reinsmith has been working to create the association for the past three years. It had been incorporated in Colorado, she was speaking from Georgia and plans are to set up a permanent base in Florida, where the majority of its board members are at this time. Her husband drives for Hadley Transit of Burns, Kan., and she is currently working on her CDL.
 
Their work will continue after the fallout from Celadon subsides.
 
“That’s the thing,” she said. “We don’t know how many are not making it to the terminals; we just don’t know. It’s kind of a wait and see now how many don’t make it to the terminals, what’s needed after the fact. 
 
“If people want to donate to the GoFundMe we can certainly try to help people with Christmas. That would be an amazing thing.”
 
Al Muskewitz is Editor-in-Chief of Wright Media Corp.