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But Davenport and other truck drivers Saturday at the Pilot Travel Center on 93rd Avenue likely will leave South Sound with fond memories of the area, thanks to the efforts of Wayne and Cynthia Rankin. The Olympia couple made it their mission Friday and Saturday to say thank you to those who find themselves far from home during the holidays.
They handed out free gift bags filled with snacks, candy, homemade cookies and other items for truckers to take with them on the road. Cynthia Rankin, who was partly inspired to create the gift bags after her cousin – also a trucker – died from cancer, said truck drivers have a thankless job. She pointed out that without them and the merchandise they deliver, there wouldn’t be a Christmas.
The Rankins are members of the Calvary Chapel of Olympia.
About 60 gift bags were distributed Friday evening and 10 to 20 more were handed out on a slower Christmas Eve day. Still, Davenport, of Omaha, a long-distance trucker for 32 years, said the gift was the first he got to open this Christmas season.
“It means a lot,” he said, softening the blow of having to call home and explain to his granddaughter that he won’t be home for Christmas.
Davenport’s destination is the Port of Everett, which reopens next week; he expects to be back in Nebraska on Friday, he said.
Jamal Naleye of Seattle, a long-distance trucker for seven years, also said the gift bag was his first Christmas gift. He will celebrate Christmas and his birthday today, then be back on the road next week, he said.
Linda Barnard and her husband, Ed, also received gifts.
They live on the road, she said, but were on their way to visit family in Yelm for Christmas. They were coming back from Oklahoma and were glad to be greeted by dry weather here after passing through Wyoming and its subfreezing temperatures.
“Not many places do this,” said Linda Barnard about receiving a gift bag at a truck stop.
Rolf Boone: 360-754-5403
rboone@theolympian.com
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