Ontario’s Special Olympics Truck Ride celebrated its 20th anniversary on Sept. 14, raising $110,000 for a very special group of ambitious young athletes. Seventy-five drivers from nearly 40 companies gathered in Paris, Ont., for the 2024 running of this popular event.

With this year’s donations and pledges, the total raised by the Paris Truck Ride for Special Olympics Ontario stands at an astonishing $1.35 million.

Organizers say this year’s event could have topped the $1.5 million mark except for the two drought years of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2020, the event was held virtually, and in 2021, it was a no-contact, one-way event where drivers congregated at the Paris Fairgrounds, ran the convoy route and then dispersed without returning. Donations dropped to $19,000 and $27,000 respectively in those dark years.

The very first running of the Paris Truck Ride in 2005 saw 59 trucks raise $33,000.

“The number of trucks that turn out for the event goes up and down, but remains fairly steady between 75 and 100,” said organizer Tammy Blackwell. “Our biggest year ever was 2019 with 133 trucks.”

What has changed is the amount of pledges the drivers bring in.

“In 2019, the top three drivers brought in nearly $20,000. This year’s top three topped $23,200,” she added. “The top 20 drivers brought in more than $56,000.”

The driver bringing in the most pledges earns the lead truck position, while the second-place driver has the honor of bringing up the rear of the convoy. Competition for the honor is intense.

This year, Brian Hilton of J&D Gleeson Trucking earned Lead Truck position with pledges of $8,435. Kent Dowling of AMJ Campbell was second with $7,470. Third place was Evan Hens, also of AMJ Campbell, with $7,300.

This was Hilton’s fourth trip in the lead position.

Several drivers in this year’s running were also present for the inaugural Special Olympics Convoy in 2005, including Brian Hilton, Matt Morrison, Dale Hadland and Stephan Gauthier — who was the first lead truck with pledges of $6,018.

This year also saw more than 15 first-time drivers and two first-time fleets, GFL and CN Truckload, each entering more than five trucks.

A milestone year

TruckNews.com caught up with a few Truck Ride veterans at this year’s event, including Bob Kett and Jim Coles. Neither drives any longer, but they come out year after year to cheer on their friends and colleagues. The Truck Ride event has that enduring quality, but nobody expected it to last 20 years, least of all, Blackwell herself.

“My partner, Michael Gower, first pitched the idea to me back in 2004 after visiting one of the first U.S. Special Olympics events in Florida,” she said. “A lot of work went into that first event in 2005, and it snowballed from there. The drivers loved it, we brought in about $30,000. Special Olympics Ontario was thrilled. So, we started looking forward and planning the next event.

“The sponsors and supporters have been there for us all the way, and of course, the volunteers and the drivers pull together to make this event magic,” she added. “But did I think we’d last 20 years? No. It just goes to show you what this industry is made of.”

Over the years, Special Olympics convoy events have been held in eight provinces: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, two events in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Most are still going strong.

It all began in Orange County, Fla., with Norm Schneiderhan, a corporal with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Since the first Special Olympics truck convoy took place in 2001, thousands of truckers have participated in convoys across the U.S. and Canada raising millions of dollars for the charity.

Corporal Norm, as he was known to thousands of drivers, passed away in 2022, but his legacy lives on with each successful convoy event.

Around the country

PEI kicked off the Truck Ride season this year on Aug. 2 with 29 trucks raising more than $10,000 for Special Olympics PEI.

Manitoba was next off the blocks, running that event on Sept. 7. Forty-two trucks participated. Arnold Brothers Transportation won the award for most trucks with nine in total. Brenda Stacysyzn with Birkett Freight earned the Lead Truck spot with donations of $5,895.

According to the Manitoba Trucking Association, the Truck Ride brought in $35,535, with $16,250 coming from sponsorships and $16,085 from registrations and pledges.

Seven out of 10 members from Team Canada Training Squad were in attendance to hand out participation certificates to the drivers. These athletes attended the Special Olympics Canada National Winter Games in Calgary in 2024 and have successfully qualified to represent our country in the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Italy in 2025.

That brings it all pretty close to home.

Nova Scotia’s Convoy for Special Olympics kicks off on Sept. 21 in Dartmouth — if nature cooperates. In previous years, the event has had to be postponed due to wildfires and Hurricane Fiona.

Nova Scotia is poised to give the Paris, Ont., event a run for its money.

It began in 2012, inspired by driver Don Mullens, who saw other jurisdictions hosting events. He approached Special Olympics Nova Scotia, and, well, the rest is history.

Nova Scotia topped the million-dollar mark in pledges and donations last year, after just 12 years. They consistently get upwards of 200 trucks and have brought in record amounts of pledges in recent years (more than $150,000 last year and more than $130,000 in 2022). Watch out, Paris.

Most of the drivers who participate in these Convoys or Truck Rides have no personal connection to the athletes and will never witness the fruits of their fundraising efforts. Still, they take a precious day off, pay $100 for the privilege of participating (or spend months fundraising on their own), and go home with little more than a hat, a T-shirt and the warm glow one gets from a good deed well done.

This is generosity and civility at its finest and purest.

It all comes down to this: A few dozen volunteers work their tails off for a few months so that a hundred or so truckers can spend an hour or two driving a 65-mile course to raise something close to a hundred thousand dollars to bring a bunch of very special people a little closer to realizing their dreams of competing in the Special Olympics.