With restaurants closed and only drive-in eateries open for business, truck drivers are finding it difficult to find a place to eat along the way.
The local Brandon branch of Maxim Truck and Trailer posted invites to all truck drivers passing through Brandon to join them for lunch at their location just off the Trans-Canada Highway.
Maxim General Manager, Darin Bouchard, says they had wanted to give back to the trucking industry but weren’t sure how. Knowing that restaurants were closed, and yet the trucking industry continues, they came up with a way to share their lunch invite to all truckers passing through.
“When it came out what we wanted to do with trucks out on the highway with signs and decals on them, it just started this flow of people texting, emailing, phoning, saying ‘thanks’ for supporting the industry.”
It was a team effort with the Maxim staff as they provided a quick footlong sandwich meal to those truckers passing by, as well as a spot to stretch their legs, and use the portable washroom facilities Maxim is providing.
Tractor-trailer drivers from across the country have stopped at Maxim’s from 10am-3pm over the course of the week. They have received a great response from the trucking industry.
Bouchard says the trucking industry is most certainly the lifeblood of the country.
“I get to talk to a lot of drivers throughout the week,” explains Bouchard, “and a couple of weeks ago the guys were telling me they felt like heroes, as everyone was applauding them. And yet, as more and more businesses shut down, they went from feeling like heroes to feeling not very good at all.”
“Those guys, they really are the lifeblood,” he says. “We’re situated right in the middle of Canada so there’s all kinds of products, there’s food going through, there’s medical supplies. We’ve been involved in the Ag industry our whole lives and that too, is so crucial because farmers are wanting to get out into the fields and they need fertilizer, and they need seed and fuel, and everything that goes along with it.”
“I’ve had guys tell me that there are fewer and fewer places for them to stop and get in. So, this is awesome that we can give back to these guys.”
Maxim Truck and Trailer sell, lease and repair tractor trucks and trailers, as well as school buses. Bouchard says the pandemic has affected them is a variety of ways. As they service transport vehicles both in house and through delivery of parts they were fairly busy. However, as schools and businesses have been closing over the past few weeks it has certainly slowed down.
Bouchard feels they will be right back to being busy with the farming industry picking up again, starting with the spring planting.
Maxim Truck and Trailer will be serving lunch from 10-3 to passing through tractor-trailer drivers until Thursday afternoon.
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