The Great Salt Lake Truck Show is a charity truck show that’s held every year at Electric Park at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah. Truck drivers, vendors, and sponsors come from all across the country to help support this 2-day show that funds the Kidney Kamp for Kids.

It would be easy to attend this show and enjoy what’s on offer and accept it for what it is, a fun event for the family and that’s all.  However, for Pride, there is a much deeper and a much more personal connection to this event. This connection comes from the circumstances that brought The Great Salt Lake Truck Show to life.

About 30 years ago Leonard Freeman, an employee of Pride founder Jeff England, spoke about his son, David Michael, who had kidney disease. Leonard wanted to do something to raise awareness about kidney disease, a silent killer that affects about 30 million Americans each year. He wanted people to understand the sad truth about kidney disease; if you have it, it not only shuts down your kidneys but it also puts you at a higher risk for stroke, heart attack, heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. 

Jeff himself was all too familiar with Kidney disease as his brother, Rod, struggled with it. After years of bravely battling kidney disease and related health issues, a battle that included amputations and a kidney transplant, Rod sadly succumbed to the disease and passed away. Leonard’s son, David Michael, also passed away at a very young age as a result of kidney disease.

It is often said that you can judge a person’s character by how they face adversity. Jeff and Leonard proved themselves to be strong, driven and deeply caring men. Together, they started the Great Salt Lake Truck Show and eventually teamed up with the Kidney Foundation of Utah & Idaho to sponsor the Family Kidney Kamp. Not just as a place to showcase trucks but as a center for knowledge and awareness about kidney disease, how it affects the lives of so many and to raise money for the Kidney Foundation.

The Kamp

Children on dialysis, who are waiting for a kidney transplant or have kidney failure and their parents will spend the first weekend in September among the trees at Aspen Grove at the base of Mount Timpanogos.

In the woods, campers participate in fishing, swimming, hiking, basketball, shuffleboard, miniature golf, racquetball, arts and crafts, and motivational learning sessions. 

Motivational speakers will inspire attendees with real-life stories about facing and overcoming challenges, dealing with adversity and finding peace in friends and family while dealing with kidney problems. Every year, the committee members and families are invited to attend Kidney Kamp and every single member that attends has their lives changed in some way. 

To see these kids engaged in a life and death struggle and to understand that this Kamp is the only escape they get, once a year, to be a regular kid and leave the hospitals, tests, tubes, machines, doctors, injections and uncertainty behind, is inspiring. Attendees cannot help but be moved, touched and changed by the experience. That was Jeff and Leonard’s goal and it has been tremendously successful.

Jeff, Leonard, and everyone at Pride knows that the amount of time and work that goes into this event is a mere fraction compared to the time that kidney patients spend in the hospital, away from their families and friends, trying to piece together a normal life. Because of that, Pride puts great effort into making this event special, memorable and to have a positive impact on the lives of those who suffer from kidney disease and their families.

Lasting friendships are forged and the hearts and spirits of patients and family alike are lifted during this unique adventure. Patients and families leave this Kamp renewed and fortified to face the many challenges still to come on their journey. But hope, friendship and connection make their journeys more bearable with new friends and the memories of an incredible weekend in nature.

This is what Jeff and Leonard had in mind when they started the show over 30 years ago and that spirit is still the lifeblood of the event. To date, the event has raised and donated over a million dollars.

Hauling Hope

Trucks and their drivers are an important part of our society. The amount of goods they haul daily in the United States alone accounts for about 700.4 billion dollars. We’d be lost without our truckers.

Apart from making sure the country is well supplied, Pride drivers love a chance to help the community and do good for those who are in need.

Pride takes enormous satisfaction in their legacy in the creation and continued participation in the annual Great Salt Lake Truck Show. There is much gratification in doing their part and raising funds so that kids with Kidney problems and their families can have a special weekend in the woods to feel free for a short while.

Along the way, Pride Drivers will connect with the community, answer questions about driving a truck and promote a positive image of the trucking industry. An industry that is vital to the well being of our nation and the world.

Pride will never forget how the Truck Show began and those we have lost along the way to this terrible disease. Life is precious and for those who have a life of struggle, making even a small part of it easy, memorable and sweet is worth all the time and energy in the world.

The Details

The 30th Annual Great Salt Lake Kidney Kamp Truck Show will be held August 9th & 10th, 2019 at Electric Park at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah.

The Great Salt Lake Truck Show is a non-profit organization that benefits the National Kidney Foundation of Utah and Idaho. Any and all donations are welcome. Funds from the Show benefit the annual Truck Show Family Kidney Kamp for dialysis and transplant patients and their families. Over the years, the Great Salt Lake Truck Show has raised over a million dollars to support the Truck Show Family Kidney Kamp.

To find out more about The Great Salt Lake Truck Show visit: http://www.saltlaketruckshow.com/

If you can’t attend but you’d like to donate to the cause visit: http://www.saltlaketruckshow.com/donate/ and click the donate button.

Save the dates, come on out, have some fun and help us raise money for a great cause. While you’re at it, stop by the Pride Transport booth, say hi and find out if being a truck driver might be the life change you’re looking for. 

Drive with the best, Drive with pride.