Advertisement

B.C. flooding: Volunteers band together to deliver hot meals to stranded truckers in Hope

Click to play video: 'Comfort food: Kamloops locals step up to help truckers stuck in B.C. due to floods'
Comfort food: Kamloops locals step up to help truckers stuck in B.C. due to floods
WATCH: They may be stranded in Kamloops, B.C. due to catastrophic flooding, but more than 100 truckers are not going hungry, thanks to the kindness of strangers who are part of Khalsa Aid Canada. Heather Yourex-West reports on how the group has cooked up a way to help drivers with a delicious taste of B.C. hospitality – Nov 18, 2021

One community group has taken to the skies to provide a warm meal to hundreds of truckers stranded in Hope, B.C., due to recent floods.

Every major transportation route between the Lower Mainland and the Interior has been cut by washouts, flooding or landslides following record-breaking rainfall across southern B.C. between Saturday and Monday.

Volunteers at Khalsa Aid Canada have put in long hours to cook and package up food for the approximately 300 truckers in Hope.

Click to play video: 'B.C. floods: Community group takes to the skies to help trapped truckers'
B.C. floods: Community group takes to the skies to help trapped truckers

“They’ve run out of food that they’ve packed from home,” Baljit Kaur Lally, Lower Mainland coordinator for Khalsa Aid Canada, said.

Story continues below advertisement

“So the biggest thing is food and tea. And then because there are a lot of people stuck there and I’m sure they can use fresh fruit, we thought we’d packed that.”

Click to play video: 'B.C. floods: Shoppers clear out shelves as highway closures lead to panic buying'
B.C. floods: Shoppers clear out shelves as highway closures lead to panic buying

Lally said plans came together quickly on Tuesday after she saw a Facebook post about truckers in need of help. She put out a call for volunteers, who went shopping for items such as milk, tea, sugar, fruits, and non-perishables.

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

A group of volunteers at the BC Khalsa Darbar Society in Vancouver took it from there.

“Here at the gurdwara, the kitchens are run by our sweet, retired ‘aunties,’ we call them. Every elderly person is our ‘auntie’ or ‘uncle,'” Lally said. “So they were here at five o’clock in the morning cooking,  as well as the priests here.”

Story continues below advertisement
Click to play video: 'B.C. floods: Volunteers come together to sandbag Abbotsford pump station'
B.C. floods: Volunteers come together to sandbag Abbotsford pump station

“They all banded together…and we’re here to pack up the fruits of their labour and take it out to the people who really need it.”

When London Air Services got a call from Khalsa Aid, they immediately agreed to donate a flight.

They’re a fantastic organization,” London Air Services president Dylan Thomas said of Khalsa Aid.” “They respond very quickly and in some cases faster than the government.”

Thomas added that they were happy to volunteer their time.

“The truckers are the backbone of our Canadian economy,” he said.

“There are truckers stranded in Hope who can’t leave their loads behind. That’s their responsibility. These truckers are going to be there for a while. So we’ve donated this flight for them.”

Story continues below advertisement

— with files from The Canadian Press

Click to play video: 'Stranded travellers leave Hope, B.C. as Highway 7 partially reopens'
Stranded travellers leave Hope, B.C. as Highway 7 partially reopens

Sponsored content

AdChoices