PNV And Trucker Buddy International Participate In Mentoring Mania 2000 Kick-Off
5 June 2000
PNV And Trucker Buddy International Participate In Mentoring Mania 2000 Kick-Off
Setting An Example For Other Businesses To Follow
By Supporting The Governor's Mentoring Initiative
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla., June 5 PNV Inc. and
Trucker Buddy International will participate in Mentoring Mania 2000 Kick-Off,
a Governor's Mentoring Initiative event designed to raise awareness about the
importance of mentoring to help kids excel in school and to help recruit
mentors throughout the State of Florida. Mentoring Mania is scheduled for
Tuesday, June 6, 2000, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (CST) at Niceville
Community Center, 208 N. Partin, Niceville, Florida.
Governor Jeb Bush, Lt. Governor Frank T. Brogan, and General Colin Powell
launched the Governor's Mentoring Initiative in August of 1999. Lieutenant
Governor Frank T. Brogan, a former Florida Education Commissioner,
schoolteacher and principal, is well known for his advocacy of education
reform, and support of mentoring programs that help children succeed in
school.
Lt. Governor Brogan will arrive at the Mentoring Mania event in an 18-
wheel Wal-Mart truck driven by "Trucker Buddy" Tom Pliska. More than 400
education, business, civic, and religious leaders are expected to gather for
the event whose goal is to recruit 6,000 new mentors for the new school year.
Trucker Buddy International (TBI) is a not-for-profit organization based
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that seeks to educate children grades 2 through 8 by
matching them with professional truck driver pen pal correspondents. Every
week, these drivers share news about their travels with their assigned classes
and provide a format for the enhancement of the grade school curriculum in
reading, writing, geography, mathematics, social studies, and history.
"Through the windshield of a truck, I can show the kids how the country
looks. The Trucker Buddy Program has given me a chance to make a difference
in the lives of these children and make learning fun," said Trucker Tom
Pliska, who has been involved with the program for five years.
In March, PNV entered into an agreement with Trucker Buddy International
to manage, support and help expand the program. Specific initiatives included
promoting TBI via PNV.com, the leading portal Web site for the trucking
industry. Specific initiatives included promoting TBI via PNV.com, the
leading portal Web site for the trucking industry. PNV.com will also provide
TBI with a prominent and permanent presence on the site as well as a dedicated
chat room that will enable drivers, teachers and students to communicate in
real time.
"The Governor's Mentoring Initiative is an effort in which everyone can
play an important role and business involvement is one of the key ingredients
to building a world class educational system. We applaud PNV and Trucker
Buddy International because by helping to make a measurable difference in the
lives of students, they are in turn supporting the economic future of their
communities," says Lt. Governor Brogan.
National studies confirm that mentoring has many positive effects on
students including achievement of higher grades in school, better attendance
of classes, improved behavior in school, a reduction in the use of illegal
drugs and alcohol, and an improvement in self-confidence and personal skills.
"PNV is committed to improving the quality of life of professional
truckers. Trucker Buddy International offers drivers a way to give back to
their communities while on the road and we are proud to not only support TBI
but also the Governor's Mentoring Initiative 2000," said Bob May, president
and CEO of PNV.
About Trucker Buddy International
Managed by PNV, Trucker Buddy International, Inc. (http://www.truckerbuddy.org)
was founded in 1992, and has helped educate over a half million schoolchildren
and introduced them to a group of caring, compassionate group of men and
women, the nation's professional truck drivers. The program's corporate
sponsors include Caterpillar, Qualcomm, Shell, Truckload Carriers Association
and Wal-Mart.
About PNV Inc.
PNV (http://www.pnv.com), based in Coral Springs, Fla., is a full-service, Cisco
Powered Network certified communications and information provider to the
trucking and logistics industry, a $450 billion market. Providing bundled
communications, cable television and Internet services to professional truck
drivers, their families, suppliers, manufacturers, operators, fleets and the
world at large, these services are delivered through the company's private,
integrated facilities-based network deployed at 326 truck stops in 43 states,
273 of which are full-service, one-stop shop centers.