MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — During the ongoing pandemic some necessary items have fallen into critically low supply, from toilet paper to the personal protective gear doctors and nurses need.
The one link among all of those items is the resupply will be coming via truck.
A Monongalia County teenager is keenly aware of the vital role truck drivers play in the current crises. Logan Miller,13, is the son of a trucker.
“I go by one motto, America and the world would stop if we did not have truck drivers,” Miller told MetroNews.
Miller is keenly in touch with the transportation industry because his dad, Jason Miller, is also a trucker.
Young Logan, a student at Monongalia County’s Clay-Battelle Middle-High School is off school amid the Covid 19 crisis.
He became concerned when he noticed truck stop restaurants near his home were closed and some truckers were going without meals as they delivered vital loads across the land. He decided to act.
“I chatted with my mom and dad to see if it would be a good idea to use my allowance money to feed hungry truck drivers,” said Logan.
Naturally his proud parents supported his decision. Logan and his mom visited the local grocery store and he used his $50 allowance to buy peanut butter, bread, Slim Jim’s, fresh fruit, and chips.
Each was sacked up individually and Logan headed off to find a few hungry truckers at the West Virginia Welcome Center rest stop on I-79 southbound just between the Pennsylvania border and the Star City exit.
“We wanted to go there to see if any of the truckers parked might want a bagged lunch and a bottle of water,” Logan said.
At first, there weren’t many takers, since few understood what he was up too. But then he met trucker Joseph Graham of Terra Alta, W.Va. Joseph was almost home, but because of federal rules had to make a pit stop. Speaking with the website Transportation Nation, Graham said it was an amazing meeting.
He shared it had been a horrible week and finding a hot meal had been like pulling teeth. Then Logan knocked on the truck door and offered him a sack lunch.
“When you see a 13-year-old boy take that amount of time to want to help, it’s very humbling. I couldn’t help myself, first thing I thought is I gotta get a video.” Graham told the website.
Graham is a professional videographer who runs his own website and Facebook page called Hillbilly Express Media. He got permission from Logan’s mom and used the video to tell his story. The story went viral throughout the trucking community. Soon, Logan was very busy and very popular.
“Right after he did that live stream, people started rolling in and we didn’t leave until 4 o’clock,” he said.
Jason Miller, Logan’s dad, saw the video in the cab of his own truck while stopped at a rest stop near Oklahoma City. He was understandably proud.
Logan isn’t sure what’s next, but plans to be back on I-79 Monday or Tuesday with as many bags of grub as his allowance will afford to share with those keeping the country well supplied in the most difficult of times.