Trucking company sets up pit stop for drivers transporting goods during COVID-19

Workers at a Brandon company have taken to the side of the TransCanada Highway to wave, cheer, and offer food to truck drivers transporting essential goods across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They're doing it all while practising physical distancing of course, using a pin puller normally used to unhook trailers to pass sandwiches and snacks to truck drivers.

Maxim Truck & Trailer, a national company that serves the trucking industry, is feeding truckers from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. out of its location on a service road on the Trans-Canada Highway in Brandon on Wednesday and Thursday.

About 100 truckers stopped on Tuesday, when the service started, said Darrin Bouchard, general manager of Maxim Truck & Trailer's Brandon location.

"We just thought it was a great opportunity to give back to the truckers," he said.

"It's kind of, at times, a thankless job and people don't realize how many of these guys are on the road every single day. During a pandemic, they're here everyday."

Bouchard's team got the idea after hearing from some truck drivers that they were living on chips and chocolate bars, now that so many businesses they used to frequent along the road have closed their doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, because they're travelling back and forth across provincial borders and sometimes into the U.S., some truckers are choosing to stay in motels or away from their families on their days off so they don't risk getting them sick.

"They want to keep their livelihood while keeping families healthy," Bouchard said.

The reaction to the first day of the pit stop was awesome, Bouchard said. If truckers couldn't stop, they waved and blew their horns while driving by the Maxim stop.

"It just really feels good."