Local blog delivers meals, thank-yous to truckers during COVID-19 pandemic

As truckers continue to deliver goods across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic, one Regina group of bloggers is providing some food and a thank-you to them.

The guys from That Bearded Canuck blog teamed up with Mr Mikes Grasslands and Lowe’s to provide free lunches for truckers making their way through the Queen City.

“Due to these really, really nasty times we’re in, a lot of times the folks that work through these times — all of the essential workers — don’t get the recognition they deserve,” said Jarrod Ursu, one of the bloggers.

He said with a few members of the group being truckers themselves, they wanted to focus on drivers.

“The thing with the essential part of (a trucker’s job) is getting the supplies to everybody who needs supplies,” Ursu said.

Due to the large nature of semi-trucks, Ursu said truckers are running into issues in some areas because they can’t go through a drive-thru and many restaurants no longer allow customers inside the restaurant.

“They can’t eat, they can’t get a coffee and things like that so we wanted to maybe do our best to mitigate that and maybe get some food in their bellies along the way,” Ursu said.

Ryan Pylatuk, the general manager of Mr Mikes Grasslands, said the COVID-19 pandemic turned the business completely upside down.

“It’s completely different how we’re doing business right now,” Pylatuk said.

Pylatuk said when he heard what the That Bearded Canuck guys were doing, he wanted to help out where he could.

“(The drivers) have to leave their families and go away and they are at risk as well. An essential service like this, one of the ones that don’t get recognized nearly enough, we thought this would be a nice way to give back to them while they’re on the road,” Pylatuk said.