Marketplace Chaplains Delivers Vital Assistance to Truckers on the Road
While the U.S. trucking industry is a $681 billion dollar industry1, according to Bob Costello, president of the American Trucking Association, with 70 percent of all freight in America being moved by trucks, Marketplace Chaplains, America’s largest and original workplace chaplaincy organization, is tending to something of more value than the precious truck cargo—the hurts, hopes and struggles of truck drivers and their families.
Marketplace Chaplains works with several trucking and distribution companies in North America and have hundreds of chaplains ready to assist drivers with any life crises in which they find themselves.
“Our Marketplace Chaplains have been able to take us that extra mile with employees that truly makes their situation and our ability to serve them one that goes from average to where KeHE is truly this unique company,” said Rusty Bland, Vice President, Talent and Total Rewards at KeHE Distributors, based in Naperville, Illinois, and with locations all over the United States. “We have some very strong values and Marketplace Chaplains has been one of those ways that we’ve been able to live out our values as we engage with employees.”
Other trucking and distribution companies which use the unique strategic initiative of Marketplace Chaplains are Texas-based McLane Company, who has partnered with Marketplace Chaplains for a quarter century; Danny Herman Trucking, based in Tennessee; Dot Foods, just outside Chicago; and Spring Creek Carriers of eastern Canada.
Each company has a wide variety of truck drivers and other employees located in various locations, often hundreds of miles from their homes and families. While a problem or crisis can happen at any time, Marketplace Chaplains nationwide network of ready and available chaplains can address issues wherever they occur.
Recently, a Canadian truck driver was on a route outside Atlanta, Georgia, when his company learned the driver’s wife had suddenly passed away. They located the driver and dispatched a Marketplace Chaplain in Georgia to console him, drive him to the airport, and send him home to be with family in Canada. Canadian Marketplace Chaplains were waiting at the airport to help him and his family in their time of need and grief.
“Marketplace Chaplains have become a vital part of the Mt. Sterling Dot Foods family over the last 18 months. We highly value the great support the team provides to the staff and management of Dot Foods,” said Lori Cherry, Corporate Benefits Manager for Dot Foods.
Company employees can use the innovative MyChap smartphone application which allows them to interface with a chaplain via phone, text, email or to send a personalized request from any location—especially useful for truck drivers who spend the majority of their time on the road. There are also downloadable life issue resources the on-the-road employees can listen to for remote help.
The app allows employees, whether at a depot or company headquarters, to schedule a face-to-face meeting with their chaplain or to give updates on family members in the hospital, jail or going through other difficult situations.
“These hard-working men and women, which some call Kings of the Road, have been greatly helped by Marketplace Chaplains in North America and can be helped wherever they are and whenever a crisis or a need may appear,” said Marketplace Chaplains Executive President and CEO, Doug Fagerstrom. “Many trucking and distribution companies see Marketplace Chaplains as a valuable and helpful resource for their employees to utilize.”
For more information on this unique HYPERLINK "http://mchapusa.com/services" employee benefit which has been featured in Marketplace Chaplains on CNN, NBC Nightly News, and in the Washington Post, the New York Times and Bloomberg BusinessWeek, visit http://www.mchapusa.com.