EASTPORT – When Tennessee “trucker buddy” Jerry O’Neal put the pedal to the metal Tuesday, he landed Down East, where pupils at Eastport Elementary School were waiting to toot his rig’s horn.

O’Neal, who lives in Savannah, Tenn., was not lost. For the past three months, he has been the school’s pen pal, and he was in this seaside community to meet the children he has been corresponding with.

He is part of Trucker Buddy International Inc. of Waupaca, Wis., a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping educate and mentor the nation’s schoolchildren.

The organization matches professional drivers with pupils. Drivers share news of their travels, allowing youngsters to travel vicariously with a trucker buddy.

The program began in 1993 and has grown exponentially. The children track the movements of their trucker buddy, discuss the places he or she visits, the loads hauled, and even personal facts. The organization says some of the pupils wind up regarding their trucker buddy as a mentor, not just a pen pal.

O’Neal has been a trucker for 21 years. He has traveled more than 1 million miles. His rig has all the comforts of home, including a bed, microwave oven, television and PlayStation game system. He works for Tombigbee Transportation Corp. of Adamsville, Tenn., a division of Aqua Glass Corp.

O’Neal said he became interested in the Trucker Buddy program through his brother Thomas “Bud” O’Neal, who also is a truck driver.

“They say this is supposed to be for the kids, but it’s so much more for the driver. They’ve touched my heart in such a way,” he said in a Tennessee drawl. “They’ve brightened my day. I got cards and stuff in the truck. So just when you think you got it bad, you can look down and know you’ve got a friend.”

During one trip, he borrowed his brother’s video camera and taped everything, including the loading and unloading of his truck. He sent the tape to the youngsters.

Teacher Judy Knapp said her husband saw an article about the group in a trucking magazine and she contacted the organization. Within weeks she was hooked up to O’Neal. The long-haul trucker has been communicating with youngsters in third through eighth grades ever since. “I send them postcards whenever I get my loads and tell them where I’m going,” he said. Knapp “came up with a whole stack of postcards, and I got postcards every day. My wife – she beats me to the mailbox – and tells me what they write.”

The pupils sent O’Neal a Maine package of sardines, locally produced Raye’s mustard and other goodies. “I got a T-shirt that I couldn’t fit because I eat a little too much fried chicken down South, but my wife said she’d be happy to have it,” he said with a smile.

O’Neal brought gifts, too, including a country ham and molasses. The youngsters all were sporting Tombigbee hats Tuesday.

The kids had questions for the trucker. Joey O’Rilley, 10, wanted to know how the trailer stayed hooked to the truck. “I tried to explain that it’s like a lobster with the claws that has a pen in it and it just grabs a hold of it and don’t turn it loose,” he said.

O’Neal said he believes most people do not realize how important trucks are to America. “You can look around in your house and if you can put your eyes on it you can pretty much tell that a truck brought it to you,” he said.