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Feature article: Runner with a cause
June 1, 2010
| by: By Todd Dills
On her way toward completion of a nine-month journey across the United States, Jasmine “Jazzy” Jordan inspires legions of drivers, raises money to benefit philanthropic medical organization devoted to the industry
In early March, 17-year-old Jasmine “Jazzy” Jordan had only just made Middle Tennessee. She needed to average 40 miles a day for the remainder of her run — on foot, mind you, no diesel here — from Los Angeles to get to New York City by the date she’d originally chosen to finish, April 17, the anniversary of the reason she happened to be at the Tanbark Campground in rural Dickson, Tenn., where I first met her. She was averaging 15 miles a day, she said. “I’ll keep my steady pace right now and slowly increase it, then the last three weeks will pick it up and really push myself a lot.”
By Sunday, March 28, she was in Nashville, Tenn., with the family of Sheila Grothe, who passed away on April 17, 2009, after a nearly two-year battle with cancer. Randy, Britney and Derrick Grothe ran with Jazzy for part of her 7.5 miles that day. Running with her for the entirety was 54-year-old Doug Jones, owner of Nashville’s Spec Records and coproducer of the Truckers Tracks series of CDs (see “Making Trucking Tracks,” p. 38). Jones, who is blind, and Jordan ran tethered to one another by no more than a shoestring.
It was a bright moment in Jordan’s journey to honor Grothe’s life and highlight the health-care and insurance needs of the nation’s truck drivers. Her beneficiary of choice is the St. Christopher Truckers Development and Relief Fund (truckersfund.com), a nonprofit launched in late 2007 to provide financial and other assistance to drivers without insurance and in need of medical help. Jordan’s father, Lee, says she identified the fund as beneficiary “almost immediately” upon deciding to embark on the journey: “Jazzy grew up in a trucking family and is aware of the lack of health insurance that goes along with the trucking business. St. Christopher does a lot of wonderful things with medical research and sleep apnea testing and more.” Having only one part-time employee, Lee says, “Ninety-five percent of the money that goes to the fund goes to helping drivers.
Since Jordan began her run Sept. 1, 2009, says St. Christopher executive director Donna Kennedy, “the number of applications that we’ve gotten for help has gone up dramatically.”
Fund donations, too, have most definitely been affected by Jordan’s effort, says Kennedy, though the cumulative numbers are “hard to quantify, as per her father’s request we’ve not added up what’s been donated on her behalf.” Promotions like the one Jordan posted on her Facebook fan page suggesting donations of $17 in honor of her 17th birthday, Dec. 17, have, most definitely, spurred Jordan’s followers on. “We got a lot of those,” Kennedy says.
But with the surge in applications for assistance combined with the down economy, which has limited charitable and philanthropic giving these past two years, Kennedy says, it’s been hard to keep up. “We try to help everyone,” she says. “With the turning economy, we really had a decrease in the donations coming in. We try to help everyone we can in a smaller way today. We struggle with it every week,” even with such a high-profile face out on the road for the cause.
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[...] Feature article: Runner with a cause | Truckers News | Trucking …It was a bright moment in Jordan’s journey to honor Grothe’s life and highlight the health-care and insurance needs of the nation’s truck drivers. Her beneficiary of choice is the St. Christopher Truckers Development and Relief Fund ( truckersfund.com), ….. Jasmine and Lee Jordan’s on-road companion, Radar, strikes a pose. Jordan, when I talked to Staso, was closing in on her scheduled finish date and still west of Knoxville, Tenn., home of the St. Christopher fund. … read more… [...]
Much gratitude goes to all those who gave support for Jazzy to accomplish her goal. And, Jazzy, you are an exceptional lady! It is hoped that a large percentage of our youth will take a page from your book and get focused on something positive. A big thanks to your father, who’s been there for you every step of the way. Also to the songwriters for the beautiful song and the one who wrote the article. And last, but not least, we thank our Lord and His angels for standing guard over you all these miles. You will be remembered for many, many years to come for your stamina, your dedication to the cause, and your big Texas-sized heart. It’s been a trip that many truckers and others have followed constantly. Enough will never be said about your performance. God bless you and your whole family. P.S. I’ll be waiting for your book. And I’m hoping D.C. will be waiting to give you the recognition you well deserve. Sincerely,
was that 1/3 of the CMV drivers needs to be tetsed for Sleep Apnea. Of that number from confidential sources I know that about 10 to 13% of the drivers actually have sleep apnea. You also mentioned how fatigue causes so many accidents in the trucking industry. Recently there was an extensive study in Europe on the subject. In the combination accidents between cars and trucks that they looked at only 25% of the accidents we the fault of the truck. And in looking at all the accidents they examined, only 6% we a related to fatigue. that AAA and the Canadian version of the AAA have also done some studies and come up with similar numbers.And by the way there has been no definitive studies done that prove the relationship between sleep apnea and crashes in commercial motor vehicles. There has been several studies that show a relationship between crashes and sleep apnea in car drives. The reason there is a difference is because the truck driver has a different skill set that helps him/her compensate to things that are bothering them physically. Here is the bottom line. Everyone wants to punish the truck driver when something goes wrong. What we need is regulations that instead of punishing people when things goes wrong, make it possible for drivers to get treated for their illnesses early and do it a way that the driver is not scared he will loose his job as a result of early detection. Today if a driver gets involved in preventive medicine he may be taken off the road from 7 days to 3 months with no compensation if certain things are found. Thanks you for your consideration of this material and for posting it if you do.
Several of my statements regarding a few past transcontinental runs by females were used in this article and readers can learn much more about U.S. coast-to-coast runners by visiting a web site developed by John Wallace III at http://www.usacrossers.com. I had the privilege of sharing some words of encouragement with Jazzy early on in her endeavor to run across America and then my time became filled with a solo run across Germany – which I did during March 2010 (http://www.pacetrek.com). I have, however, been following her progress and am confident that she will run into New York City victorious in this amazing undertaking for a young lady her age. Way to go, Jazzy! You are about to join the ranks of a very small group of runners who have run across the entire United States. I’m sure that it will be an accomplishment that you will look back on regularly throughout your life… as I do with my 2006 solo run across America. – Gotta Run, Paul Staso
[...] edition of Truckers News (cover shot at left). In case you’ve missed it out there as yet, here’s a link to the text version. There’s a great deal of reporting there on the background of the run I [...]
This has been a huge commitment by the entire Jordan family. I am constantly impressed by Jazzy’s tenacity to get up and do it again the next day. My hope is that Jazzy will serve as an inspiration to truckers to start exercising. If Jazzy can run 3000 miles + for us we can each walk 30 minutes per day for ourselves.
We have learned a great deal about rvreoecing from narcotic addiction and have found several methods that work well. This is information drug treatment programs would not want out since it would cause them to lose a large number of patients. Would it be better to start with a blog or a website? We eventually hope to make this into an alternative business that would help people get of methadone clinics. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as there is a dire need for this information. Thank you..
[...] my story about her run, check out this month’s cover story in Truckers News. finish line,Jasmine Jordan,Jazzy Jordan,Jordan Enterprises,Lee Jordan,New York City,Overdrive [...]
[...] in Nashville Honoring anniversary of the death of Sheila Grothe Jazzy and Lee rear-ended in N.C. Runner with a Cause (June Truckers News cover story) Jazzy approaches finish line Jazzy runs final cross-country leg to Times Square Congrats, [...]
Congratulations to Jazzy and everyone involved in this great cause. She is truly an inspiration to all of us.
http://www.askthetrucker.com/get-ready-nyc-and-times-square-jazzy-is-coming-to-town/
My dad is a truck driver….he wants to thank you for what you have done for the truck drivers in American. It was really brave of you to ran across American for the truck drivers! THANK-YOU!
Sincerly,
Cheyenne Wentz &
my family:)
[...] can also register onsite Thursday, Aug. 26 at Truckers News’ Fit for the Road booth #23175. Jazzy Jordan, as well as our Marathon Trucker columnist Jeff Clark, will be running as well, looks like. Hope to [...]
[...] be at the Great American Trucking Show, beginning this coming Thursday, join Clark and I and Jazzy Jordan, among so many others, at Truckers News‘ Fit for the Road program’s Too Hot to Trot 5K [...]
[...] from the 5K’s first-place finsher, Right Weigh Load Scales’ Andy Mount, to Jasmine “Jazzy” Jordan, Landstar owner-operator Lance Willey and Summit Transportation’s Doug East. . . [...]