A year on from their first monthly truck meet, the two truckie mates who started the initiative to help bring truckies together and raise money for mental health can’t believe how far the event has come.
Truckies Jake Cusbert, who works for Haines Bros, and Luke Roberts, who works for Dino’s Haulage, both grew up around trucks and developed a passion for them early on.
They came up with an idea to help bring the trucking community together for a barbeque and a chat at Marsden Park in Sydney, and held their first truck meet in May 2021, which attracted around 30 trucks.
Following the success and feedback from that first event, the plans were to hold these truck meets each and every month, but Covid put a slight spanner in the works, meaning some of the planned meets had to be cancelled. Nevertheless they were back up and running and soon as they were able, with the next one scheduled for Saturday May 28 at the same location.
So far, the biggest meet has had 83 trucks in attendance, but for the one-year anniversary event, there are already 90 trucks booked to attend – with the event still two weeks out.
“It’s been one year since me and Luke came up with the idea of having a truck meet. We thought it would never work but fuck we were wrong,” said Cusbert. “We want to thank everyone that has made this happen and hope to see it continue the way it has.”
The duo also get the trucks they drive shined up – a T908 and T909 – and bring them along to every meet.
“The truck meets just keep getting bigger, though sometimes rain hampers the numbers. We’re hoping to do a really big one for the one year meet,” added Roberts, admitting he too didn’t expect things to go as well as they have.
“We just thought it’d be a good idea to try this out, so thought why not, we all love shiny trucks – then it all took off. Soon after the first meet, we then started with the shirts, hoodies, stickers and stuff too, which have also helped raise money for Beyond Blue. We sold over 100 pieces of merchandise when it was first released. Now we have 12 sponsors, and all these are listed on the back of the shirts and hoodies.”
Among the sponsors are Kevin Waters and Rod2Mod, which put on a barbeque at each meet.
“The more people that come along, the better. We’re wanting to get the word out there and raise some more money. Everyone is welcome, no matter what truck you drive.”
There is no entry fee to attend, however there is a donation bucket at each truck meet and they ask that $5-$10 is donated for each truck that comes along.
For more info, visit the Truck Meet Facebook page. A Truck Meet page has also been set up for donations to Beyond Blue. To donate, please click here.