JEFFERSON, Ga. — Februarys Trucker Buddy of the Month, Thomas Hotdog Barstow, Sr, earned his title by going above and beyond the usual guidelines for the program and creating a national weather station for his Trucker Buddy class in Florida.

It is seldom that partnerships between the business world and schools are as successful as has been that of Hotdog and Del Prado Elementary School, said teacher Lenae Breger-Herman. Tom Barstow is indeed the very model of what a Trucker Buddy should be. His contagious enthusiasm was directly responsible for my class becoming deeply engrossed in the experience.

Barstow was matched with Breger-Hermans kindergarten and fifth grade classes at Del Prado Elementary School in Boca Raton, Fla., during the 2005-06 school year. While this was his first year in the Trucker Buddy program, he took on two classes because they couldnt find a Trucker Buddy of their own. Barstow is matched with Breger-Hermans kindergarten class for the current school year.

In addition to sending educational materials and up to five postcards each week to his classes, Barstow also created a national weather Web site station. The station (www.moyockweather.com) provides extensive weather information and serves as a valuable learning tool for students.

In addition to up-to-date weather forecasting, the site also provides learning pages. The Web Weather for Kids page on moyockweather.com helps the students, Learn what makes weather wet and wild, do cool activities, and become hot at forecasting the weather, through games, stories, activities and safety tips.

His site became part of the daily Panther in-house news channel viewed by the entire student body, Breger-Herman said. We hope this project will serve as a prototype for schools throughout Palm Beach County.

Barstow, an owner/operator leased to Transport America, Eagan, Minn., has been driving for more than 15 years since leaving a long career in the military.

I think Trucker Buddy is a great program, said Barstow, who lives in Moyock, N.C., and teams with his son Thomas Barstow, Jr., also a Trucker Buddy. Transport America has been very supportive of my participation they support all of their drivers who volunteer with Trucker Buddy.

Transport America currently has 18 drivers matched with classrooms through the Trucker Buddy pen-pal program.

Barstow was so excited to be a part of a learning partnership, Breger-Herman said. He feels strongly about the need for children to know all about this great country of ours and about his role in the process.

Barstow is among 3,500 other professional drivers who share their time with elementary classes throughout the world. The only criteria to be a Trucker Buddy is to be a professional truck driver with a CDL who is willing to send a postcard each week to a class in grades two through eight. Drivers and teachers can find out more about the program by visiting www.truckerbuddy.org or calling 1-800- MY-BUDDY.