16-year-old making cross-country trek to bring greater awareness about industry’s health issue
At some point in our lives, we are all tested. Most of the time circumstances beyond our control measure our willpower, determination and resolve.
There also are those people who seek great challenges for fame, fortune or just to prove themselves worthy.
And then there are people like Jasmine Jordan, whose concern over an important issue drives her to attempt something extraordinary. The 16-year-old Minnesota resident is running across the United States to bring awareness to the plight of the many truck drivers without proper access to good health care.
Her cross-country run officially began Sept. 1 in California, but the inspiration for the journey was born out of tragedy this past April 17, when a family friend and truck driver who worked for her dad’s small trucking fleet and pilot car company died of cancer.
Jazzy, as she is known to family and friends, visited 38-year-old Sheila Grothe just prior to her death. Grothe’s two children and husband were at her bedside. “It broke my heart to see her like that and what it was doing to her family,” Jazzy says. “I decided then I wanted to do something to bring awareness to all the truckers without proper medical coverage.”
Jazzy, who had been training for a shot at the 2012 Summer Olympics, discussed the cause with her dad, Lee Jordan. They discovered the St. Christopher Truckers Development and Relief Fund – better known as “the truckers fund” – a non-profit organization dedicated to providing financial assistance to truckers who have medical problems and cannot otherwise afford health care.
