Chris Dowdy counts he and his wife, Paula, and their family among the lucky ones. The subject of this edition of Overdrive Radio is one ripped right from the last month or so of a myriad headlines -- the bankruptcy and ceasing operations of Yellow, The LTL giant finally shut after being propped up by an astounding amount of loaned money straight from the U.S. taxpayer in recent years. That followed the business generally struggling financially for many more.

The largely union workforce there was a home for many, many people, though, and that included Dowdy for a substantial part of the last decade or so. If his name sounds familiar, longtime Overdrive readers among you may well recall his time driving for Wooten Transports with a home base in Memphis, when he spearheaded an initiative he called Truckers for Hope years ago: https://www.overdriveonline.com/channel-19/article/14885626/new-truckers-for-hope-initiative-to-benefit-st-jude

Through the philanthropic effort, Dowdy staged visits to St. Jude’s and Ronald MacDonad House in Memphis with other drivers to deliver a message of trucking goodwill for children and their families there: https://www.overdriveonline.com/channel-19/article/14887082/truckers-for-hopes-round-two-at-st-jude-close-brush-with-60-below

The Truckers for Hope effort’s still in the back of his mind for a restart post-COVID, but he’s had bigger fish to fry this past month with the loss of work since Yellow shut down.

As noted, though, he’s one of the lucky ones, soon to start a regional gig doing what he’s done for most of the past quarter-century -- "harassing traffic," as he puts it, joking. Yeah, that means "driving." Others laid off with Yellow shutting down haven’t been so lucky, and as with any such company implosion, though business press charts the financial missteps: https://www.overdriveonline.com/business/article/15543136/a-yellow-bankruptcy-would-influence-freight-used-trucks

**The ensuing lawsuits: https://www.overdriveonline.com/business/article/15543677/former-yellow-employee-files-suit-over-layoff-notice-i96-i75-closures

**The reorganizations with creditors and the like: https://www.overdriveonline.com/business/article/15542702/yellow-looming-teamster-strike-breaches-labor-agreement

... what’s often lost in coverage is the toll it all takes on the individual people who are cast off to scramble for their future.

Hear Dowdy's story and worry particularly for non-CDL former Yellow employees here.