The heart of professional truck drivers will be on full display this Mother’s Day as the Make-A-Wish Mother’s Day Truck Convoy makes its way through a 26-mile stretch of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
<p>Now in its 30<sup>th</sup> year, the convoy serves as a fundraiser for <a href="http://philadesv.wish.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Make-A-Wish Philadelphia, Delaware & Susquehanna Valley,</a> which seeks to fulfill wishes for hundreds of children battling life-threatening illnesses.</p><p>The convoy will begin and end on Sunday, May 12, at <a href="http://www.burlepark.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Burle Business Park</a> in Lancaster, which will also host the <a href="http://site.wish.org/site/TR?fr_id=2802&pg=informational&sid=1496" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mother’s Day Truck Convoy & Family Fun Day</a>. The event, which also raises money for Make-A-Wish, will feature music, a live auction, food and games.</p><p>Penske is proud to serve as the “Official Convoy Trucking Company” for the <a href="https://blog.gopenske.com/lease/penske-joins-with-mothers-day-convoy-to-help-grant-50-wishes/" rel="noopener noreferrer">third</a> year.</p><p>“The convoy provides this exceptional moment when our wish kids are the center of attention for all of the right reasons,” said Ben Lee, regional director of Make-A-Wish Philadelphia, Delaware & Susquehanna Valley.</p><p>The chapter has granted more than 6,000 wishes since its founding in 1986. Most of the wishes from children fall into four categories: I wish to go, I wish to be, I wish to have or I wish to meet.</p><p>The convoy began with a child’s wish to ride in a big rig, one granted by truck drivers nearly 30 years ago. Since that first wish, the annual fundraiser has raised more than $7 million. The convoy has held two different <a href="http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-truck-convoy" rel="noopener noreferrer">Guinness World Records</a> and is the world’s longest truck convoy.</p><p>As many as 600 truck drivers are expected to participate in the convoy this year, Lee said, making this the largest convoy to date. About 130 wish kids are expected to ride in the convoy, which attracts about 25,000 spectators each year.</p><p>In addition to the 30<sup>th</sup> anniversary celebration, the event will have a new attraction this year: a “Wish Angel” bus.</p><p>“It is a special bus that we have never done before,” Lee said. “We have parents who have lost a child, and a majority of them have never had a chance to see the convoy. Now, they will get to experience the convoy and see the love people have for them along the route, and I am excited about that.”</p><p>Penske has been happy to support the work of Make-A-Wish on behalf of the children and families it serves.</p><p>“It is astonishing what Make-A-Wish does for children with life-threatening medical conditions,” said Andrew Stevenson, a manager of national retail truck centers at Penske. “Their dedication to supporting those families ties back to our core values of commitment and dedication to excellence.”</p><p>“Just the respect of the Penske brand as a national company to have your support, standing alongside us, adds a lot to the legitimacy and admiration to the event,” Lee said. “We are honored to have Penske have their name next to ours.”</p><p>For more information on the Mother’s Day Truck Convoy & Family Fun Day, visit <a href="http://site.wish.org/site/TR/InternalChapterEvent/Make-A-WishPhiladelphiaDelawareandSusquehannaValley?pg=entry&fr_id=2802">WishConvoy.org</a>.</p><p><em>By Bernie Mixon</em></p></div>
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A child’s wish to ride in a big rig, granted by truck drivers nearly 30 years ago, created a movement resulting in fulfilled wishes for hundreds of children battling life-threatening illnesses.
<p>Each Mother’s Day, a 26-mile stretch of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is transformed as hundreds of trucks participate in the Mother’s Day Truck Convoy, a fundraiser for <a href="http://philadesv.wish.org/" rel="noopener">Make-A-Wish Philadelphia, Delaware & Susquehanna Valley.</a></p><p><a href="http://www.burlepark.com/" rel="noopener">Burle Business Park</a> in Lancaster will host the 29<sup>th</sup> annual <a href="http://site.wish.org/site/TR?fr_id=2802&pg=informational&sid=1496" rel="noopener">Mother’s Day Truck Convoy & Family Fun Day</a> on Sunday, May 13, to raise money to help fulfill the wishes of Make-A-Wish children. Penske is proud to serve as the “Official Convoy Trucking Company” for the <a href="https://blog.gopenske.com/news/penske-helping-to-grant-childrens-wishes-in-mothers-day-convoy/" rel="noopener">second</a> year.</p><p>Make-A-Wish hopes to raise $500,000 in order to grant 50 wishes to 50 local children.</p><p>“There is so much happening that it is easy to lose sight of the urgency that this event represents and that is the need to fund approximately 70 percent of the wishes that happen here in the Susquehanna Valley in Central Pennsylvania,” said Ben Lee, regional director of Make-A-Wish Philadelphia, Delaware & Susquehanna Valley.</p><p>Since that first wish, the fundraiser has raised more than $7 million, and the convoy has held two different Guinness World Records and is currently the world’s longest truck convoy.</p><p><strong>More than a Wish</strong></p><p>The chapter has granted more than 6,000 wishes since its founding in 1986. Most of the wishes from children fall into four categories: I wish to go, I wish to be, I wish to have or I wish to meet.</p><p>“The kinds of wishes we love are wishes that allow a child to see themselves doing what they love, living a life on the other side of this critical illness that is limiting their life so much now,” Lee said.</p><p>More than just a fun experience for the child and their family, “the wish is necessary and contributes to a child’s medical journey,” Lee said. “A wish is a part of a child’s medical team.”</p><p>In addition to the convoy, the daylong event also features a carnival, which has a live auction, live entertainment, carnival-style games and food. Admission is free and 100 percent of all purchases goes to Make-A-Wish.</p><p><strong>Official Convoy Trucking Company</strong></p><p>In addition to participating in the convoy, Penske will provide a truck to assist the organization with preparations in the days leading up to the event.</p><p>“Make-A-Wish is a great organization,” said Andrew Stevenson, a manager of national retail truck centers at Penske. “It seems only fitting that we partner with Make-A-Wish and be the Official Convoy Trucking Company for this year’s convoy.”</p><p>Last year, Penske helped Make-A-Wish transport its <a href="https://blog.gopenske.com/news/wish-angel-trailer-receives-helping-hand-from-penske/" rel="noopener">Wish Angel Trailer</a>, when the organization was without a driver to transport the trailer from its New York location to Lancaster in time for the convoy. This year, the trailer will be part of the convoy for the first time.</p><p>“Penske has always been there,” Lee said. “You are a partner who has used your resources for good, and we thank you for that.”</p><p><strong>A Force for Good</strong></p><p>The event has come a long way from its humble beginnings with 40 professional truck drivers participating that first year. This year more than 500 truck drivers are expected to participate in the convoy.</p><p>“We all know that truck drivers are what keeps America running,” Lee said. “This is a season where truck drivers are applauded and thanked for the work that they do and for making a difference in the lives of children and their families where a critical illness has almost ruined them.”</p><p>Truck drivers’ participation in the convoy is symbolic of the dedication they have to the plight of children in need.</p><p>“Truck drivers are incredibly generous. They are a force for good in the world and that is what we get to see every Mother’s Day,” Lee said.</p><p>For more information on the Mother’s Day Truck Convoy & Family Fun Day, visit <a href="http://site.wish.org/site/TR/InternalChapterEvent/Make-A-WishPhiladelphiaDelawareandSusquehannaValley?pg=entry&fr_id=2802" rel="noopener">WishConvoy.org</a>.</p><p><em>By Bernie Mixon </em></p></div>
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It was Matt’s one true wish – to ride inside a big rig and speak with his sister Heather on a CB radio.
<p><a href="http://philasv.wish.org/">Make-A-Wish</a>, a charitable organization which grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions, put out a call for one truck driver to help make Matt’s wish come true. More than 40 responded, giving rise to what would become an annual tradition in <a href="http://www.co.lancaster.pa.us/">Lancaster County, Pennsylvania</a>.</p><p>Some 28 years after that first Mother’s Day ride, professional drivers – including five from <a href="https://www.gopenske.com/whypenske/">Penske</a> are set to assemble Sunday, May 14, at <a href="http://www.burlepark.com/">Burle Business Park</a> in Lancaster for the Mother’s Day Truck Convoy & Family Fun Day to raise money to help fulfill the wishes of other Make-A-Wish children.</p><p>“It was so wonderful that the drivers who were there that year wanted to come back and turn this into something that casts a positive light on Make-A-Wish but also on professional truck drivers who aren’t always held in high esteem as I think they deserve,” said Ben Lee, regional director of Make-A-Wish Philadelphia, Northern Delaware & Susquehanna Valley.</p><p>Over the years, the convoy, which charts a 26-mile route in Lancaster County, has raised close to $6 million. This year, the chapter hopes to raise $450,000, which will help to grant wishes to children in the Susquehanna Valley. Last year, the convoy set a Guinness World Record for the longest truck convoy with 590 trucks.</p><p>“It was so long that by the time the first trucks were returning, we had a couple dozen still sitting in the parking lot, so we had an unbroken loop still going of trucks and trailers,” he said.</p><p>Among the 500 trucks that are expected to participate this year will be a 16 ft. Hicube, a box truck, a reefer truck, a day cab tractor and a sleeper tractor from Penske, named this year’s “Official Convoy Trucking Company.”</p><p><a href="http://wish.org/#sm.000gzv9dbqgnd8911td2cafsdajuv">Make-A-Wish America </a> was founded in 1980 by a group of caring police officers who helped to grant a terminally ill boy’s wish to become a highway patrol officer. Since then the organization has grown to include 62 chapters across the country as well as internationally.</p><p>The organization grants one wish every 35 minutes, and since it began more than 270,000 wishes have been granted in the U.S. alone.</p><p>Lee’s chapter, which serves children in Bucks, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Montgomery, Perry and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania as well as New Castle County in Delaware, reached a milestone of its own last month by granting its 6,000<sup>th</sup> wish.</p><p>The chapter receives referrals from parents, guardians and medical professionals of children ranging in age from 2 to 18 years old at the time of referral.</p><p>Few boundaries are placed on a child’s wish.</p><p>“We really do hone in on what is the one true wish if you could wish for anything in the world that would contribute to hope, strength or joy in your life to give you the strength to battle through treatment,” Lee said. “In the case of some families, the wish is an opportunity sadly to have one last shared memory together.”</p><p>Making memories on Mother’s Day is what the convoy and carnival is all about.</p><p>“We have a lot of moms who bring their kids and that is the kid’s gift to mom – being present and volunteering,” Lee said.</p><p>The day begins at 8:30 a.m. with a carnival featuring food, an auction, games, clowns and costumed characters, live music and other performances. Proceeds from food purchases and auction items benefit the Make-A-Wish chapter. Last year about 7,000 people attended the carnival.</p><p>Then promptly at 1:30 p.m., the convoy begins to move along the 26-mile route, winding through Amish country, through downtown Ephrata and back to the Burle Business Park. About 25,000 people line the route each year to watch the convoy, Lee said.</p><p>Each truck in the convoy will have a banner on the front bumper that says “Make-A-Wish” or “Wish Child on Board.”</p><p>“Probably the highlight for most people that they love and the reason why they line the roadways is every year about 150 or so former Wish Kids come back and they get to ride in the trucks,” Lee said. “Seeing the Wish kids in the cabs of the truck and cheering them on is the highlight of the convoy for most people.”</p><p>When it came to finding a trucking partner for this year’s event, teaming up with Penske was a natural choice, Lee said.</p><p>“Penske is such an iconic image on the road. Make-A-Wish would do well to share their name with such a large and respected company like Penske,” he said. “Penske every year has donated a full-size moving truck that we use for convoy set up and transporting goods that day.”</p><p>Andrew Stevenson, a manager of national retail truck centers at Penske, said he spent many Mother’s Days sitting along the convoy route watching the trucks go by. It is a tradition that he has passed along to his young son, Chase.</p><p>“It is an experience sitting along the convoy route watching all of the trucks go by. Each driver honked their horns and waved to the crowds,” Stevenson said. “Seeing the smiles on the faces of the Wish kids riding in the trucks is priceless.”</p><p>Admission to the event is free. For more information on the Mother’s Day Truck Convoy & Family Fun Day, visit the <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.philasv.wish.org_convoy&d=DwMFAg&c=h3doYy8SM5A3ClRIfuW3kMsQeA1oLqCc_JYUUs-p_mE&r=EJ5SUrl5Gl6-9lui79j0pDMkgCpNgReCD3C-1pzpJOo&m=vALN2GxQiw27MW0FfoVleSVql7Fyk9j_LhT-pEP6D2Q&s=IOioaORy_eZcJ3a5_WLm-k7OjrU5syMPDm5EwwfCUo4&e=">Make-A-Wish</a> website.</p><p><em>By Bernie Mixon</em></p></div>
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