December 31, 2025 • 35 mins
On this 7th day of Christmas, New Year's Eve 2025. Kevin talks about many of the Executive Orders, regulation enforcement, initiatives, pilot programs, etc. instituted to support America's truck drivers and make our roadways safer. Kevin also speaks with Amber Caron, Director of Communications, Wreaths Across America about their recent successful wreath laying ceremony across the Country and a special matching opportunity.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is America's truck and Network with Kevin Gordon.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome aboard, Thanks for tuning in on this seventh day
of Christmas. New Year's Eve, twenty twenty five. My goodness,
where has the time gone. Generally, at the end of
the year, there's a lot of different news articles, whether
it's international news, local news, state news, national news, any
(00:30):
news round that they do year in review and kind
of summarize what went on during the year, and of
course in the transportation industry as well, in the trucking industry,
it's no difference. And I saw this article that I
thought was very poignant and talked about a lot of
the stuff that went on in the trucking industry, a
lot for the good.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
So let's just get started with it.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
The title of this is many moves by Trump Administration
shake up Trucking in twenty twenty five. Now, if you
just read the if all you did was just look
at the headline there, you would think shakeup. I generally,
a shakeup is not a good thing at least, you know,
it's not one of those things that's a warm and
(01:12):
fuzzy phrase that get people going. But in this instance,
I think a lot of the stuff in here is
very positive. Less than ninety days into his second term
as President, Donald Trump signed an executive order titled Enforcing
Common Sense Rules for the Road of the Road for
America's Truck Drivers. This set in motion a series of
(01:33):
actions as profound as any since President Jimmy Carter signed
the Motor Carrier Act of nineteen eighty, which deregulated the industry.
Now that's kind of interesting there, because I kept, you know,
don't we always hear that it's the Republicans that are
constantly deregulating things that's not good for things, And you know,
(01:53):
let the various industry kind of you know, self regulate
and so on the heavy hand of government, relieving the
heavy handed government. It's kind of interesting that Jimmy Carter,
a Democrat, actually did that, which was good for in
a lot of instances for the trucking industry. Signed into
the effect in April of twenty eighth. One of Trump's
earlier executive horrors, this one aimed ostensibly at highway safety,
(02:18):
proved to be part of the administration sweeping and controversial
immigration and border enforcement policy. I don't think sweeping, it's sweeping.
I don't know necessarily that it's controversial, given the fact
that that's what he campaigned on, and the fact that
if you go back through the comments of various Democrats
through the years controlling our borders, stopping the flow of immigration,
(02:41):
even back when Joe Biden was a senator, he said
those things. But now, all of a sudden, because Trump
says it, all of a sudden, it's controversial. Order recented
the twenty sixteen guidance document titled English Language Proficiency Testing
and Enforcement Policy, which was laxed.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
They did away with that policy.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
It was not the policy was still on the book
for the FMCSA, but it wasn't one of those out
of service regulations that somebody could actually, you know, stop
being forced to stop driving. So they put that in
a place and issued a new one to fully enforce
the regulation requiring truckers to be able to speak and
read highway signs in English, and earlier such order designated
(03:24):
English as the nation's official language, which you know, if
you're going to drive on the roads, you ought to
be able to read the signs. You ought to be
able to know where you're at and if you know,
if obviously some of the universal signs of stop and
go and that type of thing. But when you're looking
at a particular destination of where you're going to pull
off a freeway where you need to switch lanes, that
(03:47):
kind of thing where you're heading, I don't know how.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
You operate a vehicle without that.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Trump's executive order also required a view of the tightening
of the state's policy for the issuance of commercial driver's licenses,
especially those issue to non domicile drivers. It also directed
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy to identify and begin carrying
out additional administrative, regulatory, and enforcement actions to improve the
(04:14):
working conditions of American truckers. So, if you're improving the
working conditions of American truck drivers, America's truck drivers, I
don't see that that is necessarily shaking up the trucking industry.
Maybe improving the trucking industry. Helping the trucking industry would
have been a better phrase to be used in the
(04:35):
headline of this story. This led to the announcement in
June of a series of initiatives, pilot programs, and regulatory
updates designed to support America's truck drivers. These included expanded
truck parking, which has been an issue for in the
trucking industry for at least thirty years now, withdrawing the
proposal man who proposed mandate for speed liminers, which was
(04:58):
unpopular with truckers and should have been unpopular with truckers
as well as the driving public, because putting speed limitters
on trucks would just be an impediment and also wind
up with differential speed there on the freeway or out
on the roads, which those are the things that cause accidents.
Not extending the electronic logging device mandate to pre two
(05:22):
thousand models, that's a good sign. Eliminating double brokering, creating
pilot programs to study flexible sleeper birth combinations, and splitting
the fourteen hour on duty time now the hours of service.
For as long as I can remember driving back and
forth and back and forth to Columbus to visit my parents,
(05:45):
and when I was out going to different clients' offices
and driving there at night to be their first thing
in the morning or be there for you know, when they.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Open their doors.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I've heard of hours of service and the problems with
that for again, almost as long as talking about expanding
the truck parking and so taking a look at that
and seeing what makes sense, what can be fit in
and still make the road safe out there. These are
all good things, not necessarily I don't classify that as
(06:14):
shaking up the trucking industry. Maybe improving the trucking industry.
Non Domicile CDLs and we're in the crosshairs. The awarding
of CDLs to foreign drivers, including those in the US
with legal working permits, became a high profile target for
the Trump administration, and auditive states licensing departments found seventeen
(06:36):
states and the District of Columbia out of federal compliance
for how they issue non domiciled CDLs.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Seventeen states, folks, that's.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Pretty close to well, just around about a third of
the states out there.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Not a good thing.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
And a lot of these the states that were mostly
in compliance. He called out eight states clashed with publicly California, Pennsylvania, Minnesota,
and New York. Of course they always are, I mean,
you know, democratic controlled the states that you just decided that, okay, well,
first of all, we're going to be sanctuary states, sanctuary cities,
(07:19):
and oh why should we bother doing the little things
in terms of making sure CDL licenses are distributed properly.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
It's just unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
FMCSA ordered all states to stop issuing non domiciled CDLs
and revoked those they had already issued. It's estimated that
that would remove as many as two hundred thousand foreign
truckers from the nation's trucking industry. The emergency final of
the emergency Final rule issued by FMCSA attracted more than
(07:50):
eight thousand online comments. However, a lawsuit has been filed
on behalf of two long time foreign drivers that has
halted the revocation for the time being. Again, if somebody
is in this country, if they have emigrated into this country, well,
you know, obviously illegally they've brought broken the law. But
(08:10):
since being here, have made no effort to become a
citizen or to go through the process of becoming a citizen.
How much do they care about being here? Generally, when
somebody comes into this country, somebody immigrates here because of
better opportunity or relatives here telling them how great it
(08:32):
is to find a job or whatever. The peace, tranquility,
and the steadiness of the United States as opposed to
some of these.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Other areas around the world.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Why would somebody come in here and just go ahead
and just keep taking from the system, if you will,
and not being a part of the system and trying
to hide in the shadows away from the government.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I don't understand it.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
So again, this is some of the things that we'll
pick this up coming up, because attacking the CBL mills
was part of this, as well as targeting electronic blogging
devices making sure that those are in compliance, and of
course some of the ICE focusing on truckers as part
of these state troopers pulling people over to find out
(09:17):
if they are in compliance English language proficiency and in
some of the inspections of these vehicles during some of
those safety checks during the year. I'm Kevin Gordon, America's
struck a network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
I need.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
This is the briefing report on America's drugging network on
seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Another off season tragedy has struck the NASCAR family a
couple of weeks ago, as the death of Greg Beffel,
his family, and three others in a North Carolina plane crash.
Now the father of NASCAR star Denny Hamlin died and
his mother is critically injured after a weekend fire heavily
damaged their North Carolina home where they lived. Firefighters arrived
Sunday to find a two story home near Stanley, North Carolina,
(10:02):
mostly engulfed in flames. Dennis Hamblin was seventy five years old.
Mary Lou Hamlin is sixty nine, and she was taken
to a burn center in Winston Salem.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I need this is the breathing repard on America's Trucking
Network on seven hundred WLW say Dennis and.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
A t N. Running a business is hard enough.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Don't make it harder with dozens of apps that don't
talk to each other, one for sales, another for inventory.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Thinking about this is the well, it's New Year's eve.
So here we are at the end of the year,
and of course a lot of stories concentrate on what
went on during the year, and the story that I'm
talking about here many moves by the Trump administration shake
up the trucking, shake up trucking in twenty twenty five. Again,
I'm not so sure about that headline. It's actually some
(10:49):
of these things that actually improved the trucking industry and
probably should have been improvements to the trucking industry. Because
shaking up, in my opinion, always kind of denotes that, well,
you're messing with things, you're turning things on its head
or so to speak.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
So anyway, so if you miss.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
That segment and miss any of our other segments, make
sure you hit up that iHeartRadio app. And of course
that's brought to you buy our friends at Rush Truck
Centers getting into this particular story. When we left off,
they were talking about cracking down on the CDL mills,
which again, as you know, we talked to Sam Collier
the other day having to do with the CDL program
at Gateway Community College. And the amazing thing is the
(11:27):
fact that the CDL mills could actually be in existence
out there, that there's no kind of regulation to make
sure that they're register that they're actually training people to
put them on the road. And we're not talking about
something that is barely you know, is fairly safe. We're
talking about putting somebody on the road with an eighty
(11:49):
driving an eight one thousand pound piece of equipment hurling
down the.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Highway at sixty sixty five miles an hour.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And if somebody's not qualified for handling that, that puts
everybody at danger. And really, I think that people that
issue these false CDLs, or the CDL mills, they should
be on the hook for manslaughter or murder or something
along the lines if any of these CDL licenses that
they've issued, the person winds up creating an accident that
(12:20):
kills people. On to some of the first Sean Duffy,
Secretary of Transportation, announced the removal of nearly three thousand
commercial drivers Licensed training providers from the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration's Training Provider Registry, or TPR as they refer
to it. Later on, he said that the providers failed
(12:40):
to equip trainees with the proper standards of readiness. Another
forty five hundred training providers were placed on notice due
to potential non compliance. Duffy used the announcement as another
opportunity to continue Trump's efforts to vilify former President Joe Biden.
(13:01):
Of course they had to throw this in. I'm pretty
sure that this I don't know if this is an all.
They must be taking talking points from an ap article,
because again, if somebody has been in effect asleep at
the wheel, allowed our country to be invaded at the
southern border, allowed these CDL mills to thrive and to
(13:23):
be available so that people could get their CDLs, not
enforce the English language preference proficiency standards that were a
part of the law. If you're encouraging people to break
the law, I don't think pointing out somebody not doing
that or not obeying the law and making the life
of on the road for the general citizenry unsafe. I
(13:47):
don't consider that vilifying somebody. I call that calling out
somebody's record. But of course, you know, depending upon the
viewpoint of the person writing the article. This administration is
cracking down on every link in the illegal truck chain.
Under Joe Biden, the Transportation Secretary Pete Buddha judge bad
actors were able to game the system and let unqualified
(14:08):
drivers flood our roadways. Their negligence endangered every family on
Americans roadways and it ends today. According to Sean Duffy
that he said in December, under President Trump, we were
raining in the illegal, reckless practices that let poorly trained
drivers get behind the wheel of a semi trucks and
school buses. TPR program, the Training Provider Registry lists all
(14:33):
providers authorized to offer federally required entry level driver training
for CDL students in the past CDL training providers, I
get this. We're able to self certify that they met
federal training standards. I mean, come on, we're not talking
about dog training, dog walking, something that's not a danger
(14:56):
to the citizenry out there. We're talking about the qualifications
and the specific skills necessary to operate an eighteen wheeler.
And for this to be sloughed off and say that, oh, well,
you know, we're just not going to do We're going
to let people self certify. And that's one of the
things that when we were talking to Sam Collier, dean
(15:17):
of Manufacturing and Transportations a school at Gateway Community and
Technical College, those are one of the things that he
really got riled up about, especially when I talked to
him off air, that some of these things out there,
when you have an organization like Gateway Community College that
is doing things by the book and going above and
(15:37):
beyond to make sure that people out there, not only
for their students, but for the general public aer safe,
it just infuriates the people.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
That actually follow the law and care. Duffy said.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
The first step fmcsa review of sixteen thousand training providers
listed in the TPRs who have identified and removed non
compliant providers. Duffy said CEO training providers were being removed
due to falsifying or manipulating training data. In other words,
saying that they've completed programs that they hadn't completed, neglecting
(16:10):
to meet required curriculum standards, facility conditions, or instructor qualifications,
failing to maintain accurate, complete documentation, or refusing to provide
records during federal audits or investigations.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Training providers that receive a notice of proposal removal were
given thirty days to respond to the FMCSA and provide
evidence of compliance to avoid removal from the registry. During
this period, the provider's name will be including the tpr's
proposed removal list. So again, asking people to comply with
the rules and regulations of the road, asking them to
(16:48):
make sure that the people that are getting behind the
wheel are fully trained. Especially again, I can't emphasize enough
and eat eighty thousand pounds piece of equipment hurling down
the highway, and if it's not in control, it is hurling.
It's not just moving, it's not rolling, it is hurling
down the Highway also one of the things that they
(17:09):
were targeting this year, targeting electronic logging devices. Throughout twenty
twenty five, FMCSA actively worked at cleaning up the list
of electronic logging devices. As the year came to a close,
more than thirty eleds were stricken from the agency's list
of registered devices. Again, this is an area where they
(17:30):
talked about that some of these things could be manipulated
and falsified, and that the qualifications for this was part
of a self policing effort where they were certifying their
own piece of equipment when in fact they weren't up
to the standards that were.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
That were necessary.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Of course, ICE Immigration Customs and Enforcement have been out
on the highways along with some of the state troopers
enforcing some of the these immigration laws. There have been
stops in Alabama, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Texas trying to crack
down on you know, illegal CDLs, people that don't have
(18:10):
the English language proficiency and as well as also maintaining
their trucks and making sure that they're in proper safety
order and if they're not then they're given out of
service notifications and they're you know, obviously their license well
they didn't have a license begin with, so it's suspended,
but they're precluded from driving that truck any further. So,
(18:33):
a lot of this going on in the trucking industry,
which I think was good, especially focusing on expanded truck
parking and eliminating double brokerage, and especially making sure that
removing that mandate of speed limitters, which is a good thing.
(18:54):
So again, a good year, hopefully moving forward into twenty
twenty six. Coming up, I'll be speaking with Amber Karen.
She is director of Communications Reese across America. We'll be
talking about their recent successful wreath laying ceremony across the
country and a special matching opportunity through today December the
(19:14):
thirty first for anyone sponsoring a wreath for National res
Across America Day, which will be on Saturday, December nineteenth,
twenty twenty six, twenty twenty six. So we'll be speaking
with her shortly. I'm Kevin Gordon, America's struck In Network
seven hundred WLW seven hundred WLW. I'm Kevin Gordon. This
(19:43):
is America's truck In Network. Joining me is Amber Karen,
director of Communications Rees across America. Welcome into the Program Amber.
Speaker 6 (19:51):
Good morning, Kevin, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
My pleasure talk about a fantastic organization that I won't
learned about only about three four years ago. And the
work that you guys do is just absolutely phenomenal. Kind
of give us a thumbnail sketch of reefs across America
and uh, and we'll talk about the past wreath laying.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Easy for me to say this past, I know.
Speaker 6 (20:16):
It'd be surprised at the Tung Twisters.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Yeah, No, res across America. We're a national nonprofit. We're
in every single state. Our mission is very simple. It's
to remember the fallen, honor those who serve, and teach
the next generation the value of freedom. And this is
a year round mission that includes many free programs that
do just those things in your communities across the country.
It obviously we're probably best known for our annual reef
(20:41):
laying event called National Wreaths Across America Day. This year
it was held on Saturday, December thirteenth at five thousand,
five hundred and.
Speaker 6 (20:51):
Ninety eight locations nationwide. We're in everything in Alaska, Hawaii, Yeah,
it's amazing.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Puerto Rico, we've grown a lot, almost seven hundred new
locations in twenty twenty five, which is really a testament
to the mission. Yeah, all run by volunteers, and that's
the part that I think people are surprised by.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
It's really a volunteer program.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
These are people who have participated in the program elsewhere
and want to bring it to their community, want to
make sure the veterans and service members and military families
in their community are being.
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Honored and remembered, and that's how it grows.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
So it's it's pretty you know, we had a pretty
great National Rescross America Day this year. We placed just
over three point one million sponsored veterans reads just over
three million volunteers, a third of whom were children, participated
in this LIBE.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
I think, so, I think that part is really fantastic.
The thirty percent of the people that attended our children.
I was only able to participate in this once over
the last four years, both the other times I've been
out of town, but the time that I went, I
was amazed at how many young people that the parents
(21:58):
bring to this event and just the all respect and
just when you think in terms of these fallen soldiers
and these veterans that to honor them it's very humbling.
I don't know how else to explain it other than
the fact that seeing it and witnessing it is amazing.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
Yeah, it's definitely an experience, and I think that that's
the important thing.
Speaker 6 (22:27):
Whenever anyone says, well, what can I do to get involved?
Speaker 5 (22:29):
I always say, the first thing you can do is
just find a location near you to go to one year,
you know, take your family. It's something that's super simple
to do. It's a very simple act. Place to read,
it's very memorable. It's a core memory for a lot
of kids, I think, because it becomes it's something you
can do, it's an action.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
It's something that you can go back home with your.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
Family and maybe look up the service member that you
place to read for and learn about their life. And
it's a very simple way to teach your kids what
it means to serve, also.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
To understand from the ultimate price and the saying and
it chokes me up every time I hear it or
even try to say it. And when they say a
soldier dies twice, once when they take their last breath,
and then once their name is no longer mentioned. And
the fact of laying these reefs at these grave sites
and then taking the time to speak that person's name.
(23:20):
It's just it sends chills down your spine because you
realize that this person either died in combat, served or whatever,
but actually was there to preserve the freedoms that we
take so much for granted, and.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
Not everyone has the is given the ability to become
a veteran.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
You know, a veteran is somebody who served who's living
when we place it, replacing veterans reeds, and it's what
we called them, their veterans reads and replacing them for
service members who.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
You know, maybe never had the chance to be called
a veteran.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
And well that's a good point. That's a very good point.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
Yeah, yeah, even if they did, you know, it's they
could have had military career, lived a long, healthy life
and passed away. They still chose to serve and they
were willing to do whatever was necessary to protect our freedoms.
And for that, it's something we can all agree on.
It's something that is easy to support. A responsorship is
(24:18):
covers a lot of things. I mean, yes, when you
place when you make a seventeen dollars sponsorship, yes, you're
placing a wreath at a specific location, but in many
cases you're also doing in every case you're supporting the
year around mission. But right now we also have a
little promotion going on through the end of the year.
And one thing that people don't understand about rascross America
(24:39):
through we have a program called our Group Sponsorship Program.
And so through that, any other nonprofit so or a
veteran service organization, if you're a VFW American Legion, you're
a soup kitchen, you know, or kids baseball team, you
can sign up to be a sponsorship groups across America.
And this is a year round program.
Speaker 6 (25:01):
And through it you can do the.
Speaker 5 (25:03):
Five dollars back and so for every seventeen dollars sponsorship
made through your group, you can earn five dollars back.
Speaker 6 (25:10):
We've given back over twenty eight million.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Dollars to other nonprofits over the last seventeen years through
this program. And you know, some other groups sign up
as to be a five dollars forward instead of taking
the five dollars back, they want five dollars to go
towards another wreath, which helps please you know, local cemeteries
get full coverage.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
But we have a promo going on through the end
of this week, so through.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
The thirty first any registered group, So if you're registered
as a sponsorship group through resacross America and you sponsor
read through their group, if they'll get a second matching
WREAF for from res across America and.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
That doubles your doubles your contribution. So how do you
do that on the website because I kind of tinker
around with that the other day and we're on the website.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
You go to the Reach across America do and then you.
Speaker 5 (26:03):
Click on when you go up to the top, you
can look for search and you can when it pulls
up the search, it'll be there's a locations and then
there's groups. So if you know the location that you
want to support, you can look up your location and
it'll it'll pull up the location if it's a participating
location and they get their own their own page, and
then you can scroll down and see all the groups
(26:24):
that support that location, and if you click on their group,
you can sponsor a reach right through that group. Or
if you know the name of the group, so so
you know your local VFW or your local American Legion
is a sponsorship group for your cemetery, you can go
directly to the group section and just look up the
name of that post or that chapter, or the name
(26:47):
of the whatever the nonprofit's name is, and you can
pull up their page. So anyone who any group that's
just you know, participating location or participating group has their
own page on our website, so it's really easy to
to find them and to sponsor a reath through them,
and then we take care of it on the back end.
So and that's a great way, and you can also
(27:07):
call you can call our customer service at eight seven
seven three eight five ninety five oh four and see
if you know, what are the groups that are supporting
the local cemetery that you care about, and you can
support that group. So that way, you know your money
is going that much further. You know, you're not only
are you you're also you know, when you support a group,
you're also supporting two organizations. So for your seventeen dollars contribution,
(27:31):
you're sponsoring the REEF and you're supporting RECROSSMERCAS programs, but
you're also helping this other nonprofit in there in your community.
So it's a really great way to kind of do
good twice all throughout the year. But obviously, this promos
through the end of this week is a great way
for us to help our volunteers to be successful and
get a great head start for next year.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
My guest is Amber Karen. She is the director of
Communications Rees across America.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Now, to be.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Clear on your web page, you don't want to go
to the sponsor wreaths, correct?
Speaker 3 (28:02):
You want to go again?
Speaker 6 (28:04):
If you yeah, you actually can do that.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (28:07):
If you go to sponsor wreaths and you say you're
going to click one sponsor.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
One wreath, you can go ahead, I'm gonna go through
the process and you can add to cart, you can
proceed to check out and basically you can go through
and you can actually edit and you can say where
you want your wreath to go. You can be very
specific as to what group and location you want to
go to. That things that I find it easier just
(28:32):
to start at the group that you want.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
So by going to search sponsor, Yes, yeah, that's probably
the easiest way, is.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah, I think it's more better way of going to
it because you know, but backing up, also, if you
are interested in being part of this and being part
of the reath playing ceremony, you can go to the
get involved, and it's very simple. You go you and
(29:01):
you tell them where you're located or your zip code.
And when I did this three maybe four years ago,
within a half hour, one of the people contacted me
and said, hey, we're interested in having you and all this.
And so they talked about what cemetery they sponsored and
how close it was to where I live. And it
(29:22):
was a very easy sign up policy. And so to
do that again going back in and purchasing a wreath,
you can go to that specific sponsor and sponsor the
wreath at that location. And it's very important to do
that because you want to get that bang for your buck.
You want to make sure and it's seventeen dollars. I mean,
(29:43):
you look at these wreaths. I'm telling you folks. You
go online and you look at the reefs across America
dot org and look at the picture on there, and
that is just such an amazing picture. And I think
originally at Arlington Nationals a mitery, uh, the when that
(30:03):
first took place and the snow on the ground, and
when you look at these reefs, I mean, these are
anybody that's gone out and bought a wreath seventeen dollars
for these reefs. You should be probably paying twice as
much for them. They're that beautiful.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
Well, and you're and you're not just paying And I
want to be really clear for people saying it's not
just paying for the wreath.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
The reef is.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
One thing that gives place. But you're supporting local programs.
You're supporting the res Across America mission and our year
round program. We have so many things including you know,
our own we have our own radio station that you
know that we share content from our veterans and service members.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
We have our.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
We have our museum and our traveling museum.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
We have our education program free curriculum for teachers and
educators across the country. So there's a year round mission
here that's being supported with that seventeen dollars sponsorship, and
a reason is getting placed.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I should I should have been more specific on that.
I apologize for that, but yeah, I think.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
It's an important distinction that people don't realize, yeah, because
I think they're like, oh, well, seventeen dollars, I'm getting
a wreath, yes, and.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Adding all these other things yes.
Speaker 5 (31:09):
Yeah, And in a lot of cases with these sponsorship groups,
you're supporting on another another group's.
Speaker 6 (31:13):
Mission, right, I mean twenty eight million dollars. I mean
we haven't gotten the updated figure yet.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
For twenty twenty five, but I guarantee it's going to
be over thirty million dollars this year. We've we had
over seven thousand sponsorship groups last year.
Speaker 6 (31:25):
So these are groups that are you know I have.
Speaker 5 (31:28):
I had kids that played baseball and we sold four
mate popcorn for absurd amounts of money, and those kids
would see a dollar you know of it, whereas this
is seventeen dollars and five dollars goes directly back to
whatever the program is. It's a great it's a great
way to raise funds and especially for youth programs for
them to learn about those service members and their community.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
And it is an absolutely fantastic organization and I recommend
it highly. It's just one of those things that really
touches your soul. Again, Amber, Karen direct your communications. Rescross America.
It I just can't speak enough about it, the good
work that you do. And my other well, my full
time gig is with America's Truck and Network and we
(32:12):
were a part of Rescross America and do the truck
and Tuesday and do the show there. And it's been
great going to the America Mid America Trucking Show and
being right around the corner from the booth of Recross America. Uh,
it's always great to talk to them. Jeff Pearce, in
your in your crowd. It's just an amazing organization. So
(32:34):
once again, anybody interested in getting on board, go.
Speaker 5 (32:39):
To read across America dot org and there's plenty of
ways to followed get involved if you want to look
to how to get involved locally, or go to the
search function and look up a sponsorship group near you
and see where you can make your contribution doubled over
the next week.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
And if if you prefer the phone route, that would be.
Speaker 5 (33:03):
The phone round at eight seven seven three eight five four.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
And again my guess, Amber, Karen. And by the way,
I know it was kind of rushed and getting in
touch with you over the weekend, but I certainly appreciate
uh you spending time with us today. And again, folks,
recross America dot org support a very fantastic organization. Get
on board. Look at the website. If it doesn't touch
(33:30):
your heart, well nothing will. And that's all I have
to say, and it's a fantastic organization. Remember, honor and
teach Heather. It's been a pleasure talking to you. I
have to do this again sometime and again, folks. This
is a promotion that goes till December thirty first, New
Year's Day. Get double bang for your buck, sponsor a
(33:53):
wreath and they match that from Recross America. Any closing thoughts, No.
Speaker 6 (33:59):
I appreciate it, Kevin, Thank you so much. Everyone.
Speaker 5 (34:01):
Like I said, even though even though Reese Cressmercod Day
is over for twenty twenty five, the mission continues year round.
There's ways to get involved year round, and never too
early to get involved for next year exactly.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
And oh, by the way, save the date December nineteenth.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
Nineteenth, Yeah, twenty six, December December nineteenth, twenty twenty six.
We'll do it all over again and probably at over
six thousand locations next year, all right, which is crazy
crazy to think about.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Let's hope. Ember.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
It was just mentioned to me that a couple of
minutes ago I misspoke and said that the promotion for
Reese Cross America was going through New Year's Day. It
actually ends today December the thirty first, So I want
to make sure that you're aware of that. Go to
their website and make sure that you make that donation
and sponsor that rece so you get two for the
price of one, and certainly a worthwhile thing to do.
(34:53):
Stay tuned for EDI Radio Top the hour. I'm Kevin Gordon.
America is struck in network seven hundred wl W
This is America's truck and Network with Kevin Gordon.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome aboard, Thanks for tuning in on this seventh day
of Christmas. New Year's Eve, twenty twenty five. My goodness,
where has the time gone. Generally, at the end of
the year, there's a lot of different news articles, whether
it's international news, local news, state news, national news, any
(00:30):
news round that they do year in review and kind
of summarize what went on during the year, and of
course in the transportation industry as well, in the trucking industry,
it's no difference. And I saw this article that I
thought was very poignant and talked about a lot of
the stuff that went on in the trucking industry, a
lot for the good.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
So let's just get started with it.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
The title of this is many moves by Trump Administration
shake up Trucking in twenty twenty five. Now, if you
just read the if all you did was just look
at the headline there, you would think shakeup. I generally,
a shakeup is not a good thing at least, you know,
it's not one of those things that's a warm and
(01:12):
fuzzy phrase that get people going. But in this instance,
I think a lot of the stuff in here is
very positive. Less than ninety days into his second term
as President, Donald Trump signed an executive order titled Enforcing
Common Sense Rules for the Road of the Road for
America's Truck Drivers. This set in motion a series of
(01:33):
actions as profound as any since President Jimmy Carter signed
the Motor Carrier Act of nineteen eighty, which deregulated the industry.
Now that's kind of interesting there, because I kept, you know,
don't we always hear that it's the Republicans that are
constantly deregulating things that's not good for things, And you know,
(01:53):
let the various industry kind of you know, self regulate
and so on the heavy hand of government, relieving the
heavy handed government. It's kind of interesting that Jimmy Carter,
a Democrat, actually did that, which was good for in
a lot of instances for the trucking industry. Signed into
the effect in April of twenty eighth. One of Trump's
earlier executive horrors, this one aimed ostensibly at highway safety,
(02:18):
proved to be part of the administration sweeping and controversial
immigration and border enforcement policy. I don't think sweeping, it's sweeping.
I don't know necessarily that it's controversial, given the fact
that that's what he campaigned on, and the fact that
if you go back through the comments of various Democrats
through the years controlling our borders, stopping the flow of immigration,
(02:41):
even back when Joe Biden was a senator, he said
those things. But now, all of a sudden, because Trump
says it, all of a sudden, it's controversial. Order recented
the twenty sixteen guidance document titled English Language Proficiency Testing
and Enforcement Policy, which was laxed.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
They did away with that policy.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
It was not the policy was still on the book
for the FMCSA, but it wasn't one of those out
of service regulations that somebody could actually, you know, stop
being forced to stop driving. So they put that in
a place and issued a new one to fully enforce
the regulation requiring truckers to be able to speak and
read highway signs in English, and earlier such order designated
(03:24):
English as the nation's official language, which you know, if
you're going to drive on the roads, you ought to
be able to read the signs. You ought to be
able to know where you're at and if you know,
if obviously some of the universal signs of stop and
go and that type of thing. But when you're looking
at a particular destination of where you're going to pull
off a freeway where you need to switch lanes, that
(03:47):
kind of thing where you're heading, I don't know how.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
You operate a vehicle without that.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Trump's executive order also required a view of the tightening
of the state's policy for the issuance of commercial driver's licenses,
especially those issue to non domicile drivers. It also directed
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy to identify and begin carrying
out additional administrative, regulatory, and enforcement actions to improve the
(04:14):
working conditions of American truckers. So, if you're improving the
working conditions of American truck drivers, America's truck drivers, I
don't see that that is necessarily shaking up the trucking industry.
Maybe improving the trucking industry. Helping the trucking industry would
have been a better phrase to be used in the
(04:35):
headline of this story. This led to the announcement in
June of a series of initiatives, pilot programs, and regulatory
updates designed to support America's truck drivers. These included expanded
truck parking, which has been an issue for in the
trucking industry for at least thirty years now, withdrawing the
proposal man who proposed mandate for speed liminers, which was
(04:58):
unpopular with truckers and should have been unpopular with truckers
as well as the driving public, because putting speed limitters
on trucks would just be an impediment and also wind
up with differential speed there on the freeway or out
on the roads, which those are the things that cause accidents.
Not extending the electronic logging device mandate to pre two
(05:22):
thousand models, that's a good sign. Eliminating double brokering, creating
pilot programs to study flexible sleeper birth combinations, and splitting
the fourteen hour on duty time now the hours of service.
For as long as I can remember driving back and
forth and back and forth to Columbus to visit my parents,
(05:45):
and when I was out going to different clients' offices
and driving there at night to be their first thing
in the morning or be there for you know, when they.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Open their doors.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I've heard of hours of service and the problems with
that for again, almost as long as talking about expanding
the truck parking and so taking a look at that
and seeing what makes sense, what can be fit in
and still make the road safe out there. These are
all good things, not necessarily I don't classify that as
(06:14):
shaking up the trucking industry. Maybe improving the trucking industry.
Non Domicile CDLs and we're in the crosshairs. The awarding
of CDLs to foreign drivers, including those in the US
with legal working permits, became a high profile target for
the Trump administration, and auditive states licensing departments found seventeen
(06:36):
states and the District of Columbia out of federal compliance
for how they issue non domiciled CDLs.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Seventeen states, folks, that's.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Pretty close to well, just around about a third of
the states out there.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Not a good thing.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
And a lot of these the states that were mostly
in compliance. He called out eight states clashed with publicly California, Pennsylvania, Minnesota,
and New York. Of course they always are, I mean,
you know, democratic controlled the states that you just decided that, okay, well,
first of all, we're going to be sanctuary states, sanctuary cities,
(07:19):
and oh why should we bother doing the little things
in terms of making sure CDL licenses are distributed properly.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
It's just unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
FMCSA ordered all states to stop issuing non domiciled CDLs
and revoked those they had already issued. It's estimated that
that would remove as many as two hundred thousand foreign
truckers from the nation's trucking industry. The emergency final of
the emergency Final rule issued by FMCSA attracted more than
(07:50):
eight thousand online comments. However, a lawsuit has been filed
on behalf of two long time foreign drivers that has
halted the revocation for the time being. Again, if somebody
is in this country, if they have emigrated into this country, well,
you know, obviously illegally they've brought broken the law. But
(08:10):
since being here, have made no effort to become a
citizen or to go through the process of becoming a citizen.
How much do they care about being here? Generally, when
somebody comes into this country, somebody immigrates here because of
better opportunity or relatives here telling them how great it
(08:32):
is to find a job or whatever. The peace, tranquility,
and the steadiness of the United States as opposed to
some of these.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Other areas around the world.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Why would somebody come in here and just go ahead
and just keep taking from the system, if you will,
and not being a part of the system and trying
to hide in the shadows away from the government.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I don't understand it.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
So again, this is some of the things that we'll
pick this up coming up, because attacking the CBL mills
was part of this, as well as targeting electronic blogging
devices making sure that those are in compliance, and of
course some of the ICE focusing on truckers as part
of these state troopers pulling people over to find out
(09:17):
if they are in compliance English language proficiency and in
some of the inspections of these vehicles during some of
those safety checks during the year. I'm Kevin Gordon, America's
struck a network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
I need.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
This is the briefing report on America's drugging network on
seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Another off season tragedy has struck the NASCAR family a
couple of weeks ago, as the death of Greg Beffel,
his family, and three others in a North Carolina plane crash.
Now the father of NASCAR star Denny Hamlin died and
his mother is critically injured after a weekend fire heavily
damaged their North Carolina home where they lived. Firefighters arrived
Sunday to find a two story home near Stanley, North Carolina,
(10:02):
mostly engulfed in flames. Dennis Hamblin was seventy five years old.
Mary Lou Hamlin is sixty nine, and she was taken
to a burn center in Winston Salem.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I need this is the breathing repard on America's Trucking
Network on seven hundred WLW say Dennis and.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
A t N. Running a business is hard enough.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Don't make it harder with dozens of apps that don't
talk to each other, one for sales, another for inventory.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Thinking about this is the well, it's New Year's eve.
So here we are at the end of the year,
and of course a lot of stories concentrate on what
went on during the year, and the story that I'm
talking about here many moves by the Trump administration shake
up the trucking, shake up trucking in twenty twenty five. Again,
I'm not so sure about that headline. It's actually some
(10:49):
of these things that actually improved the trucking industry and
probably should have been improvements to the trucking industry. Because
shaking up, in my opinion, always kind of denotes that, well,
you're messing with things, you're turning things on its head
or so to speak.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
So anyway, so if you miss.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
That segment and miss any of our other segments, make
sure you hit up that iHeartRadio app. And of course
that's brought to you buy our friends at Rush Truck
Centers getting into this particular story. When we left off,
they were talking about cracking down on the CDL mills,
which again, as you know, we talked to Sam Collier
the other day having to do with the CDL program
at Gateway Community College. And the amazing thing is the
(11:27):
fact that the CDL mills could actually be in existence
out there, that there's no kind of regulation to make
sure that they're register that they're actually training people to
put them on the road. And we're not talking about
something that is barely you know, is fairly safe. We're
talking about putting somebody on the road with an eighty
(11:49):
driving an eight one thousand pound piece of equipment hurling
down the.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Highway at sixty sixty five miles an hour.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And if somebody's not qualified for handling that, that puts
everybody at danger. And really, I think that people that
issue these false CDLs, or the CDL mills, they should
be on the hook for manslaughter or murder or something
along the lines if any of these CDL licenses that
they've issued, the person winds up creating an accident that
(12:20):
kills people. On to some of the first Sean Duffy,
Secretary of Transportation, announced the removal of nearly three thousand
commercial drivers Licensed training providers from the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration's Training Provider Registry, or TPR as they refer
to it. Later on, he said that the providers failed
(12:40):
to equip trainees with the proper standards of readiness. Another
forty five hundred training providers were placed on notice due
to potential non compliance. Duffy used the announcement as another
opportunity to continue Trump's efforts to vilify former President Joe Biden.
(13:01):
Of course they had to throw this in. I'm pretty
sure that this I don't know if this is an all.
They must be taking talking points from an ap article,
because again, if somebody has been in effect asleep at
the wheel, allowed our country to be invaded at the
southern border, allowed these CDL mills to thrive and to
(13:23):
be available so that people could get their CDLs, not
enforce the English language preference proficiency standards that were a
part of the law. If you're encouraging people to break
the law, I don't think pointing out somebody not doing
that or not obeying the law and making the life
of on the road for the general citizenry unsafe. I
(13:47):
don't consider that vilifying somebody. I call that calling out
somebody's record. But of course, you know, depending upon the
viewpoint of the person writing the article. This administration is
cracking down on every link in the illegal truck chain.
Under Joe Biden, the Transportation Secretary Pete Buddha judge bad
actors were able to game the system and let unqualified
(14:08):
drivers flood our roadways. Their negligence endangered every family on
Americans roadways and it ends today. According to Sean Duffy
that he said in December, under President Trump, we were
raining in the illegal, reckless practices that let poorly trained
drivers get behind the wheel of a semi trucks and
school buses. TPR program, the Training Provider Registry lists all
(14:33):
providers authorized to offer federally required entry level driver training
for CDL students in the past CDL training providers, I
get this. We're able to self certify that they met
federal training standards. I mean, come on, we're not talking
about dog training, dog walking, something that's not a danger
(14:56):
to the citizenry out there. We're talking about the qualifications
and the specific skills necessary to operate an eighteen wheeler.
And for this to be sloughed off and say that, oh, well,
you know, we're just not going to do We're going
to let people self certify. And that's one of the
things that when we were talking to Sam Collier, dean
(15:17):
of Manufacturing and Transportations a school at Gateway Community and
Technical College, those are one of the things that he
really got riled up about, especially when I talked to
him off air, that some of these things out there,
when you have an organization like Gateway Community College that
is doing things by the book and going above and
(15:37):
beyond to make sure that people out there, not only
for their students, but for the general public aer safe,
it just infuriates the people.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
That actually follow the law and care. Duffy said.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
The first step fmcsa review of sixteen thousand training providers
listed in the TPRs who have identified and removed non
compliant providers. Duffy said CEO training providers were being removed
due to falsifying or manipulating training data. In other words,
saying that they've completed programs that they hadn't completed, neglecting
(16:10):
to meet required curriculum standards, facility conditions, or instructor qualifications,
failing to maintain accurate, complete documentation, or refusing to provide
records during federal audits or investigations.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Training providers that receive a notice of proposal removal were
given thirty days to respond to the FMCSA and provide
evidence of compliance to avoid removal from the registry. During
this period, the provider's name will be including the tpr's
proposed removal list. So again, asking people to comply with
the rules and regulations of the road, asking them to
(16:48):
make sure that the people that are getting behind the
wheel are fully trained. Especially again, I can't emphasize enough
and eat eighty thousand pounds piece of equipment hurling down
the highway, and if it's not in control, it is hurling.
It's not just moving, it's not rolling, it is hurling
down the Highway also one of the things that they
(17:09):
were targeting this year, targeting electronic logging devices. Throughout twenty
twenty five, FMCSA actively worked at cleaning up the list
of electronic logging devices. As the year came to a close,
more than thirty eleds were stricken from the agency's list
of registered devices. Again, this is an area where they
(17:30):
talked about that some of these things could be manipulated
and falsified, and that the qualifications for this was part
of a self policing effort where they were certifying their
own piece of equipment when in fact they weren't up
to the standards that were.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
That were necessary.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Of course, ICE Immigration Customs and Enforcement have been out
on the highways along with some of the state troopers
enforcing some of the these immigration laws. There have been
stops in Alabama, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Texas trying to crack
down on you know, illegal CDLs, people that don't have
(18:10):
the English language proficiency and as well as also maintaining
their trucks and making sure that they're in proper safety
order and if they're not then they're given out of
service notifications and they're you know, obviously their license well
they didn't have a license begin with, so it's suspended,
but they're precluded from driving that truck any further. So,
(18:33):
a lot of this going on in the trucking industry,
which I think was good, especially focusing on expanded truck
parking and eliminating double brokerage, and especially making sure that
removing that mandate of speed limitters, which is a good thing.
(18:54):
So again, a good year, hopefully moving forward into twenty
twenty six. Coming up, I'll be speaking with Amber Karen.
She is director of Communications Reese across America. We'll be
talking about their recent successful wreath laying ceremony across the
country and a special matching opportunity through today December the
(19:14):
thirty first for anyone sponsoring a wreath for National res
Across America Day, which will be on Saturday, December nineteenth,
twenty twenty six, twenty twenty six. So we'll be speaking
with her shortly. I'm Kevin Gordon, America's struck In Network
seven hundred WLW seven hundred WLW. I'm Kevin Gordon. This
(19:43):
is America's truck In Network. Joining me is Amber Karen,
director of Communications Rees across America. Welcome into the Program Amber.
Speaker 6 (19:51):
Good morning, Kevin, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
My pleasure talk about a fantastic organization that I won't
learned about only about three four years ago. And the
work that you guys do is just absolutely phenomenal. Kind
of give us a thumbnail sketch of reefs across America
and uh, and we'll talk about the past wreath laying.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Easy for me to say this past, I know.
Speaker 6 (20:16):
It'd be surprised at the Tung Twisters.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Yeah, No, res across America. We're a national nonprofit. We're
in every single state. Our mission is very simple. It's
to remember the fallen, honor those who serve, and teach
the next generation the value of freedom. And this is
a year round mission that includes many free programs that
do just those things in your communities across the country.
It obviously we're probably best known for our annual reef
(20:41):
laying event called National Wreaths Across America Day. This year
it was held on Saturday, December thirteenth at five thousand,
five hundred and.
Speaker 6 (20:51):
Ninety eight locations nationwide. We're in everything in Alaska, Hawaii, Yeah,
it's amazing.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Puerto Rico, we've grown a lot, almost seven hundred new
locations in twenty twenty five, which is really a testament
to the mission. Yeah, all run by volunteers, and that's
the part that I think people are surprised by.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
It's really a volunteer program.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
These are people who have participated in the program elsewhere
and want to bring it to their community, want to
make sure the veterans and service members and military families
in their community are being.
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Honored and remembered, and that's how it grows.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
So it's it's pretty you know, we had a pretty
great National Rescross America Day this year. We placed just
over three point one million sponsored veterans reads just over
three million volunteers, a third of whom were children, participated
in this LIBE.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
I think, so, I think that part is really fantastic.
The thirty percent of the people that attended our children.
I was only able to participate in this once over
the last four years, both the other times I've been
out of town, but the time that I went, I
was amazed at how many young people that the parents
(21:58):
bring to this event and just the all respect and
just when you think in terms of these fallen soldiers
and these veterans that to honor them it's very humbling.
I don't know how else to explain it other than
the fact that seeing it and witnessing it is amazing.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
Yeah, it's definitely an experience, and I think that that's
the important thing.
Speaker 6 (22:27):
Whenever anyone says, well, what can I do to get involved?
Speaker 5 (22:29):
I always say, the first thing you can do is
just find a location near you to go to one year,
you know, take your family. It's something that's super simple
to do. It's a very simple act. Place to read,
it's very memorable. It's a core memory for a lot
of kids, I think, because it becomes it's something you
can do, it's an action.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
It's something that you can go back home with your.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
Family and maybe look up the service member that you
place to read for and learn about their life. And
it's a very simple way to teach your kids what
it means to serve, also.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
To understand from the ultimate price and the saying and
it chokes me up every time I hear it or
even try to say it. And when they say a
soldier dies twice, once when they take their last breath,
and then once their name is no longer mentioned. And
the fact of laying these reefs at these grave sites
and then taking the time to speak that person's name.
(23:20):
It's just it sends chills down your spine because you
realize that this person either died in combat, served or whatever,
but actually was there to preserve the freedoms that we
take so much for granted, and.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
Not everyone has the is given the ability to become
a veteran.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
You know, a veteran is somebody who served who's living
when we place it, replacing veterans reeds, and it's what
we called them, their veterans reads and replacing them for
service members who.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
You know, maybe never had the chance to be called
a veteran.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
And well that's a good point. That's a very good point.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
Yeah, yeah, even if they did, you know, it's they
could have had military career, lived a long, healthy life
and passed away. They still chose to serve and they
were willing to do whatever was necessary to protect our freedoms.
And for that, it's something we can all agree on.
It's something that is easy to support. A responsorship is
(24:18):
covers a lot of things. I mean, yes, when you
place when you make a seventeen dollars sponsorship, yes, you're
placing a wreath at a specific location, but in many
cases you're also doing in every case you're supporting the
year around mission. But right now we also have a
little promotion going on through the end of the year.
And one thing that people don't understand about rascross America
(24:39):
through we have a program called our Group Sponsorship Program.
And so through that, any other nonprofit so or a
veteran service organization, if you're a VFW American Legion, you're
a soup kitchen, you know, or kids baseball team, you
can sign up to be a sponsorship groups across America.
And this is a year round program.
Speaker 6 (25:01):
And through it you can do the.
Speaker 5 (25:03):
Five dollars back and so for every seventeen dollars sponsorship
made through your group, you can earn five dollars back.
Speaker 6 (25:10):
We've given back over twenty eight million.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Dollars to other nonprofits over the last seventeen years through
this program. And you know, some other groups sign up
as to be a five dollars forward instead of taking
the five dollars back, they want five dollars to go
towards another wreath, which helps please you know, local cemeteries
get full coverage.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
But we have a promo going on through the end
of this week, so through.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
The thirty first any registered group, So if you're registered
as a sponsorship group through resacross America and you sponsor
read through their group, if they'll get a second matching
WREAF for from res across America and.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
That doubles your doubles your contribution. So how do you
do that on the website because I kind of tinker
around with that the other day and we're on the website.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
You go to the Reach across America do and then you.
Speaker 5 (26:03):
Click on when you go up to the top, you
can look for search and you can when it pulls
up the search, it'll be there's a locations and then
there's groups. So if you know the location that you
want to support, you can look up your location and
it'll it'll pull up the location if it's a participating
location and they get their own their own page, and
then you can scroll down and see all the groups
(26:24):
that support that location, and if you click on their group,
you can sponsor a reach right through that group. Or
if you know the name of the group, so so
you know your local VFW or your local American Legion
is a sponsorship group for your cemetery, you can go
directly to the group section and just look up the
name of that post or that chapter, or the name
(26:47):
of the whatever the nonprofit's name is, and you can
pull up their page. So anyone who any group that's
just you know, participating location or participating group has their
own page on our website, so it's really easy to
to find them and to sponsor a reath through them,
and then we take care of it on the back end.
So and that's a great way, and you can also
(27:07):
call you can call our customer service at eight seven
seven three eight five ninety five oh four and see
if you know, what are the groups that are supporting
the local cemetery that you care about, and you can
support that group. So that way, you know your money
is going that much further. You know, you're not only
are you you're also you know, when you support a group,
you're also supporting two organizations. So for your seventeen dollars contribution,
(27:31):
you're sponsoring the REEF and you're supporting RECROSSMERCAS programs, but
you're also helping this other nonprofit in there in your community.
So it's a really great way to kind of do
good twice all throughout the year. But obviously, this promos
through the end of this week is a great way
for us to help our volunteers to be successful and
get a great head start for next year.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
My guest is Amber Karen. She is the director of
Communications Rees across America.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Now, to be.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Clear on your web page, you don't want to go
to the sponsor wreaths, correct?
Speaker 3 (28:02):
You want to go again?
Speaker 6 (28:04):
If you yeah, you actually can do that.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (28:07):
If you go to sponsor wreaths and you say you're
going to click one sponsor.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
One wreath, you can go ahead, I'm gonna go through
the process and you can add to cart, you can
proceed to check out and basically you can go through
and you can actually edit and you can say where
you want your wreath to go. You can be very
specific as to what group and location you want to
go to. That things that I find it easier just
(28:32):
to start at the group that you want.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
So by going to search sponsor, Yes, yeah, that's probably
the easiest way, is.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah, I think it's more better way of going to
it because you know, but backing up, also, if you
are interested in being part of this and being part
of the reath playing ceremony, you can go to the
get involved, and it's very simple. You go you and
(29:01):
you tell them where you're located or your zip code.
And when I did this three maybe four years ago,
within a half hour, one of the people contacted me
and said, hey, we're interested in having you and all this.
And so they talked about what cemetery they sponsored and
how close it was to where I live. And it
(29:22):
was a very easy sign up policy. And so to
do that again going back in and purchasing a wreath,
you can go to that specific sponsor and sponsor the
wreath at that location. And it's very important to do
that because you want to get that bang for your buck.
You want to make sure and it's seventeen dollars. I mean,
(29:43):
you look at these wreaths. I'm telling you folks. You
go online and you look at the reefs across America
dot org and look at the picture on there, and
that is just such an amazing picture. And I think
originally at Arlington Nationals a mitery, uh, the when that
(30:03):
first took place and the snow on the ground, and
when you look at these reefs, I mean, these are
anybody that's gone out and bought a wreath seventeen dollars
for these reefs. You should be probably paying twice as
much for them. They're that beautiful.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
Well, and you're and you're not just paying And I
want to be really clear for people saying it's not
just paying for the wreath.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
The reef is.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
One thing that gives place. But you're supporting local programs.
You're supporting the res Across America mission and our year
round program. We have so many things including you know,
our own we have our own radio station that you
know that we share content from our veterans and service members.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
We have our.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
We have our museum and our traveling museum.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
We have our education program free curriculum for teachers and
educators across the country. So there's a year round mission
here that's being supported with that seventeen dollars sponsorship, and
a reason is getting placed.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I should I should have been more specific on that.
I apologize for that, but yeah, I think.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
It's an important distinction that people don't realize, yeah, because
I think they're like, oh, well, seventeen dollars, I'm getting
a wreath, yes, and.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Adding all these other things yes.
Speaker 5 (31:09):
Yeah, And in a lot of cases with these sponsorship groups,
you're supporting on another another group's.
Speaker 6 (31:13):
Mission, right, I mean twenty eight million dollars. I mean
we haven't gotten the updated figure yet.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
For twenty twenty five, but I guarantee it's going to
be over thirty million dollars this year. We've we had
over seven thousand sponsorship groups last year.
Speaker 6 (31:25):
So these are groups that are you know I have.
Speaker 5 (31:28):
I had kids that played baseball and we sold four
mate popcorn for absurd amounts of money, and those kids
would see a dollar you know of it, whereas this
is seventeen dollars and five dollars goes directly back to
whatever the program is. It's a great it's a great
way to raise funds and especially for youth programs for
them to learn about those service members and their community.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
And it is an absolutely fantastic organization and I recommend
it highly. It's just one of those things that really
touches your soul. Again, Amber, Karen direct your communications. Rescross America.
It I just can't speak enough about it, the good
work that you do. And my other well, my full
time gig is with America's Truck and Network and we
(32:12):
were a part of Rescross America and do the truck
and Tuesday and do the show there. And it's been
great going to the America Mid America Trucking Show and
being right around the corner from the booth of Recross America. Uh,
it's always great to talk to them. Jeff Pearce, in
your in your crowd. It's just an amazing organization. So
(32:34):
once again, anybody interested in getting on board, go.
Speaker 5 (32:39):
To read across America dot org and there's plenty of
ways to followed get involved if you want to look
to how to get involved locally, or go to the
search function and look up a sponsorship group near you
and see where you can make your contribution doubled over
the next week.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
And if if you prefer the phone route, that would be.
Speaker 5 (33:03):
The phone round at eight seven seven three eight five four.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
And again my guess, Amber, Karen. And by the way,
I know it was kind of rushed and getting in
touch with you over the weekend, but I certainly appreciate
uh you spending time with us today. And again, folks,
recross America dot org support a very fantastic organization. Get
on board. Look at the website. If it doesn't touch
(33:30):
your heart, well nothing will. And that's all I have
to say, and it's a fantastic organization. Remember, honor and
teach Heather. It's been a pleasure talking to you. I
have to do this again sometime and again, folks. This
is a promotion that goes till December thirty first, New
Year's Day. Get double bang for your buck, sponsor a
(33:53):
wreath and they match that from Recross America. Any closing thoughts, No.
Speaker 6 (33:59):
I appreciate it, Kevin, Thank you so much. Everyone.
Speaker 5 (34:01):
Like I said, even though even though Reese Cressmercod Day
is over for twenty twenty five, the mission continues year round.
There's ways to get involved year round, and never too
early to get involved for next year exactly.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
And oh, by the way, save the date December nineteenth.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
Nineteenth, Yeah, twenty six, December December nineteenth, twenty twenty six.
We'll do it all over again and probably at over
six thousand locations next year, all right, which is crazy
crazy to think about.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Let's hope. Ember.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
It was just mentioned to me that a couple of
minutes ago I misspoke and said that the promotion for
Reese Cross America was going through New Year's Day. It
actually ends today December the thirty first, So I want
to make sure that you're aware of that. Go to
their website and make sure that you make that donation
and sponsor that rece so you get two for the
price of one, and certainly a worthwhile thing to do.
(34:53):
Stay tuned for EDI Radio Top the hour. I'm Kevin Gordon.
America is struck in network seven hundred wl W
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