Moon Star Express marks Truck Driver Appreciation Week

Sept. 10-16 was National Truck Driver Appreciation Week and Moon Star Express, 7277 Rawsonville Road, had daily events, including free meals every day for the drivers and raffle tickets for a large variety of prizes given away on Friday.
Renee Osaer of Sumpter Township is Safety Director/Human Resources for Moon Star Express trucking company. She was the one who planned all the special events for the drivers and got vendors to provide the meals.
“We want to show how much we appreciate them,” Osaer said of the drivers. And, she wanted to concentrate on safety.
Several years ago, Osaer had to quit her job because of her son’s illness. She got a job with Moon Star as safety assistant and now is safety director. She said she explained her situation with her son’s illness to the company owner and he said they would work with her and she would be able to be with her son when needed. She has been with Moon Star for two years. Her son Eric now is a junior at Belleville High School.
Moon Star was started in 1993 in California with one truck and one driver Sukhibinder Narwal, a Sikh Indian. He grew the business until it now has more than 100 trucks.
Narwal said he has family in this area who wanted him here, so he moved his business to Michigan in 2000. He bought the property at 7277 Rawsonville Road in Van Buren Township in 2011. He had 19 trucks then.
Osaer said this has been a good location, but space is getting tighter all the time as the business grows.
She said a lot of restaurants, truck stops, and other businesses did things for truckers across the country last week, since Truck Driver Appreciation Week is a nationwide event.
Osaer gave drivers a list of special deals of which they could take advantage during Appreciation Week. It included Love’s Travel Stops, Pilot Flying J, and Denny’s restaurants. At Denny’s drivers had the opportunity to enter a sweepstakes to win prizes such as Denny’s gift cards or free Grand Slam meals for a whole year. They also received scratch-off cards with various prizes and a 10%-off discount that can be used through 2018.
Osaer explained that although they do runs into Canada and Ohio, most of Moon Star’s truck runs are local so drivers are able to go home at night.
She said while she worked out the details of the events for drivers last week, Nawal gave her complete support to do it all.
“He considers all the drivers as family,” Osaer said.
Last week, Osaer planned events every day to focus on safety and maintenance. It started off with Health Day on Monday, which included drivers getting flu shots, first aid kits, and first aid training, along with a free meal.
On Tuesday, it was trailer maintenance, and on Wednesday Navigator Insurance provided a chicken dinner with baked beans and salads. On Thursday, Peterbilt trucks came out with information on truck safety and maintenance, plus fuses, fire extinguishers – and free pizza. On Friday another truck vendor was out with truck maintenance tips and more food.
One of Osaer’s offers to drivers was every day when they came in last week, they got a raffle ticket for prizes that were given out Friday. She had a small pond set up in her office with little, yellow duckies floating in it and after answering a safety question correctly, each driver would select a duck for a raffle ticket.