Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/127433
'GIVE BACK' Still, it takes more than a willing heart for an owner-operator to get seriously involved with charitable work. "If it wasn't for Dart, I'd have trouble doing it," says Chapdelaine, 58, who is leased to Dart Transit. "They help with Wreaths Across America. They pay the miles for what I run, help me with fuel and stuff. They donate to the charities, too." Chapdelaine's extensive community service, along with a record of safety and strong business skills, earned him the title of 2012 OwnerOperator of the Year in the competition run by the Truckload Carriers Association and Overdrive. He, along with 2012 Company Driver of the Year Daniel Poorman, was honored at TCA's annual meeting in Las Vegas in March. Both men received a 2012 Ram, thanks to sponsors Cummins and Chevron Delo. Chapdelaine's charitable involvement began 12 years ago when he heard a broadcast about truck convoys. He asked Dart about it and received money to enter a convoy for the Special Olympics in Joplin, Mo. "I came back and said, 'This is a good deal. Let's try it out with Minnesota Special Olympics.' The program was already having a big conference in Minneapolis, so I thought, why not?" says Chapdelaine, who lives in Minneapolis. He's worked with the Minnesota Special Olympics since 2004, serving on its convoy committee for six years. One year he was named convoy ambassador. He's helped Toys for Tots by delivering toys to Salvation Army locations for five years. For three years with Wreaths Across America, he's delivered wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery to honor fallen soldiers. He even has delivered gocarts to a Texas town for a fundraiser where police and firemen race each other. "I think drivers and their carriers should turn around and give back," Chapdelaine says. In the case of the Minnesota Special Olympics, he's been giving since the beginning, says coordinator Kathy Karkula. "From the first year, we had this truck driver that would call and say 'Can I sell things to make more money?' He would donate prizes to raffle off," Karkula recalls. "So I started digging in and got to know him. The athletes absolutely love him." On Friday night of the convoy weekend, Chapdelaine says, "All the drivers get together and have a cookout. Maybe we have people come out and sing – one year we had some dancers. Saturday, we have donuts and coffee and some ceremonies and things. We get the athletes that want to ride in the trucks, get a big convoy and drive 20, 22 miles. Then we come back, have a meal and do awards and raffles." Chapdelaine got into trucking in 1972 when he joined the U.S. Army. He was stationed in Germany for three years, working as a driver and then a dispatcher. Following five years of active service, he worked as a mechanic for Peterbilt GMC in Roanoke, Va., and ran a wrecker for them. In 1987, he drove for the nowshuttered C&N Evans. In 1991, he joined Dart Transit and bought his first truck, a 1988 International cabover. He quit Dart in 1995, drove for other employers, then returned in 2000. "He cares a lot about his work because it says a lot about him," says Sue Caine, a Dart freight coordinator who has worked with Chapdelaine for six years. "He has worked really hard all of his life, and his name carries a good reputation. He knows what needs to be done, and he does it." That professionalism also carries Brad Chapdelaine accepted his 2012 Owner-Operator of the Year award in Las Vegas at the annual meeting of the Truckload Carriers Association. The award recognizes safety, community service and efforts to enhance the industry's image. Payback's coming for citizen's arrest Brad Chapdelaine knows how to make charity work more fun than normal. He proved that once with Kathy Karkula, coordinator of the Minnesota Special Olympics and its trucker convoy, one of his favorite causes. "I lead the Minnesota convoy, and I thought, 'Well, let's make this thing fun.' Kathy has never gotten to ride in the convoy, so I went to the trooper and talked to him," Chapdelaine says. Chapdelaine arranged for police to have Karkula "arrested," allowing people to donate money to help free her. "She had to ride in the convoy the whole time in the back of the patrol car, handcuffed," he says. "It took around 15 minutes to get $600 to bail her out. She didn't know what was going on. She told me payback's going to be hell this year." Karkula says Chapdelaine does a lot to make the convoy entertaining and wrinkle-free. "He does anything from flipping hamburgers to a showing of 'Smokey and the Bandit' – he was the mastermind behind that." 18 | Overdrive | May 2013 CS_OOTY_chapdelaine.indd 18 4/30/13 9:46 PM