“Trucking is not a job; you must
be able to live it. You must have the jazz to live and work out here on the
road.” –Jerry Kissinger, owner, Independent Operator Inc., Cottage Grove,
WI
A lot of people would look at Jerry
Kissinger next to his superbly dressed up 1991 Mack and think he’s just a
show truck guy, out looking for prize money and maybe a trophy or four.
Nothing could be further from the
truth.
YouTube Video
A driver and small fleet owner, Jerry’s
first and foremost passion is charity work – specifically supporting both the Special
Olympics and the Make-A-Wish foundation. And he’s extremely
blunt as to why those two organizations are, in his words, “the priorities in
my life.”
“Look, obviously, truckers today
have a lot of problems. Just look around and see how many are going out of
business,” he told me at the 2009 Mid America Trucking Show. “But at least
we’re standing on two feet, able to work and do and chase opportunities in our
lives. Most of the kids I work with at Make-A-Wish have nothing to look forward
to but needles and pain.”
He also recognized long ago that
kids of all ages – sick and well alike – love trucks, but especially show
trucks. That enabled Jerry to bring his own two passions together, as his show
truck hobby became a centerpiece for his charity work.
“I lean on my suppliers for
donations and I put up a lot of my own money to get the ‘lead position’ in
convoys that support those charities,” he told me.
