Richard Galmon beamed as he showed off his truck to the dozens of third-grade students outside Washington Elementary School in Centralia Tuesday afternoon.
Galmon had cleaned and shined the truck for the occasion.
The students, dressed in matching vests and hats, buzzed around Galmon.
They knew they would soon experience the near-universal joy of hearing a heavy-duty truck blast its horn.
Even better, each student would get to pull the horn themselves. Including Galmon’s son, Kayson, and granddaughter, Galaxy, both students in the same class.
“I've been talking about this for the last two months,” Galmon told The Chronicle shortly before the presentation. “I’m ecstatic about it.”
Galmon had multiple reasons to be ecstatic. He wasn’t just showing off his company rig to his family’s class. The J.B. Hunt driver had come to present $1,000 in gift cards to their teacher.
The money goes exclusively toward Megan Coates’s classroom supplies, and is part of J.B. Hunt’s “Adopt-a-Class” program, which allows drivers to nominate their child or grandchild’s K-5 class.
J.B. Hunt founded the program in 2013. In 2025, the company donated nearly $61,000 to 56 classrooms across the country, according to a recent social media post.
The company says it’s donated to 406 schools since the program’s inception, for a grand total of nearly $400,000.
Galmon received an email about the program last year, along with a flyer at work. In order to be considered, Galmon had to write an essay about why his son’s class deserved the donation.
He said he wrote about Coates, who came “highly recommended” when he was looking for third-grade teachers, as well as the funding challenges schools experience.
“And these teachers are having to put so much out of pocket just to cover supplies in the classroom,” Galmon said.
Galmon submitted the essay in September. In November, he learned he was a winner.
The driver said Coates normally gets a $200 yearly allowance to cover things like construction paper and other supplies for her students’ projects.
“And that’s a trip to the dollar store,” Galmon said.
Danielle Vekich, principal at Washington Elementary, called the award “tremendous,” noting, like Galmon, that it offers five times what the district provides.
“Typically, they get about $200 from the district per year per classroom, and obviously, they spend a lot of their own personal money for things like prizes and rewards and learning materials and things,” Vekich said. “But this will allow (Coates) to purchase bigger items that she's doing, whether it be specific whiteboards and things for learning.”
Coates is in her fifth year at Washington Elementary. This is her second year teaching third grade. She lit up when asked what the donation does for her class.
“It helps tremendously,” Coates said. “We're going to be able to get so many great supplies. I don't have many art supplies, so that's one thing we're going to go for because this group really loves art, so we're going to do that.”
Coates also wants to invest in new whiteboards and clipboards for her 26-student class.
“I'm really looking to grow my class library because it's a big group of readers,” Coates added, saying she plans to get some books from the popular “Dog Man” and “Cat Kid” series.
Before the truck presentation outside the school, Galmon, along with his driver manager and another J.B. Hunt employee, presented the $1,000 award in Coates’s classroom.
The students, all dressed in J.B. Hunt gear, erupted in cheer.
“This is so exciting,” one said. His friend nodded in agreement.
Galmon said he’s been driving for J.B. Hunt for about three years. The Georgia native’s connection to Washington Elementary spans beyond his son and granddaughter. His wife, Jennifer Allbritton, is the school’s custodian.
“Everyone is unbelievable,” Allbritton said about the school’s staff and teachers.
Galmon hopes others can contribute to supporting the local district.
“More people need to involve themselves in little ways to help out these schools because they’re really struggling money-wise and volunteer-wise,” Galmon said.
On Tuesday, Galmon led the way.
