Donner named March Trucker Buddy

Walmart driver Duane Donner is the Trucker Buddy of the Month for March 2011, nonprofit Trucker Buddy International announced.

Laura Schmidt, a teacher at Douglas Middle School in South Dakota, nominated Donner for Trucker Buddy of the Month.

“He is an amazing trucker and both my students and I have been blessed to have him as our driver,” Schmidt says.

She teaches middle school students with special needs.

“Although the students are chronologically middle school age, their disabilities make actual functioning levels at lower elementary,” she says.

“Duane has never faltered or been nervous in relating to these special students,” she says. “He works hard to come up with ways to make his journeys come alive and be educational for the students. He relates to each student individually, and when they move on to the high school, often he checks on them through letters.”

Donner’s wife also helps with the students, Schmidt says. She helps him find activities and materials that are meaningful to each student.

The Trucker Buddy International outreach began in 1992 to help mentor students in kindergarten through the eighth grade in scholastic subjects.