Jeff’s Journey from Hunger to Driving Hope

Nearly 50,000 miles of interstate spiderweb across the United States, woven through with another four million miles of public streets and roads. Every day, you can find the 25 trucks and drivers that make up FTC Transportation – Feed the Children’s core carrier – out crisscrossing the country, delivering millions of pounds of food and essentials to our thousands of community partners.

FTC Transportation drivers play a key role in bringing your donations to the people who need help most: the one in five kids in our country who are food insecure.

All drivers are committed to the mission of ending childhood hunger but for Jeff Johnson, helping kids in need is a personal calling.

“I was food insecure as a child,” Jeff explains. “When I was probably between five and eight, for about two and a half, three years. I remember me and my sister would sometimes open, like, a can of peas and split it, and that’s what we ate for the day.

“I remember going to food pantries, in churches and local organizations where I lived. Eventually, we were able to get on food stamps and routinely have food in the house. To have that – that was crazy.”

Each family’s struggle with hunger is unique. Jeff is open about the circumstances that contributed to food insecurity in his youth:

“My mom had mental illness issues, I believe,” he says. “She did not make rational decisions, which quickly led to us having no money. She initiated a divorce, but was hiding from everyone, so the state kept her child support checks in escrow.”

Despite the challenges he faced, Jeff broke the cycle of poverty and food insecurity for himself. He graduated high school, went to college and got a degree, found a job and began working his way up the corporate ladder. He was successful – until COVID rocked his company and forced layoffs. Instead of a defeat, Jeff took the layoff as an opportunity to find a job that would offer stability, was in high demand, and would be something he would enjoy. And that, he discovered, was truck driving.

“You get this zen thing, when you’re on the highway, not in traffic. Out in the desert with nobody around,” he says. “It’s a really cool feeling.”

Jeff didn’t start his driving career with FTC Transportation, though. One day, in between driving assignments, he was running an errand and noticed a sign for FTC Transportation. Thinking it would be nice to drive for a company headquartered close to home, Jeff applied.

“It was completely random,” he says. “FTC” and “Feed the Children” – I didn’t even realize until I went onto the website. I used to volunteer for Feed the Children, but it’s hard to volunteer as a truck driver because you can’t commit the regular time. So it was a huge opportunity for me to be able to do this work.”

On his second drive, Jeff got the chance to help with a community partner’s food distribution event and see the impact of his work.

“The people who showed up for food were very thankful,” he says. “It was a really great experience. These events are amazing, they really are. It’s just happiness all day.”

Driving for FTC Transportation is a reminder to Jeff that the challenges his family faced still exist for others, and will continue to exist until we collectively work to end childhood hunger. For the kids experiencing food insecurity, his message is this:

“Your struggles don’t define you,” he says. “It doesn’t make you lesser than any other children. It’s a tough thing to go through, but when you get through to the other side, there is hope. You can make it. It’s not going to last forever.”