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Feeling the food truck love

Squamish saves the day with donations for truck repair
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Standing beside her broken down food truck on the side of Highway 99 on April 21, Karen Shard couldn’t have guessed things would end up turning out so well.  

Shard had been driving her popular Greek food truck, Carte Diem - Seize The Souvlaki, to Burnaby for a gig at a movie studio, when the 1979 two-tonne, converted food truck died.  

“I had to cancel my gig. It did suck,” she recalled, adding she had already poured $30,000 into truck repairs when it died. 

After towing it back to Squamish, she discovered the truck’s engine had seized. 

She needed about $8,000 to get it on the road and didn’t have the funds. 

Regretfully, she determined she would have to shut her business down. 

“I had no more lifelines,” she said. 

Then a customer suggested she start a Go Fund Me page where she could tell her story and hopefully raise the cash to fix the truck. 

Never one to ask for help, Shard was resistant, but out of resources and options she launched the page “Squamish’s Greek Food Truck is Dead.” 

That is when the magic started to happen, Shard recalled. 

She was able to reach her $8,000 goal in 18 days. 

“It went viral,” she said. Around 100 people donated and the page was shared almost 500 times. “I was also amazed that even other restaurants and small businesses contributed.” 

It was overwhelming and humbling. 

The comments posted themselves were a huge boost to her spirits, she said. 

“All these people were coming out of the woodwork and sending me a lot of love,” she said.

The truck is back on the road this week, parking around the corridor, feeding her many devoted customers. 

To find her, go to Carte Diem - Seize The Souvlaki on Facebook. 

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