If it were up to Kirk Tobias, his mobile coffee start-up, Fleets Coffee, would be up and running, now serving commuters at several GTA transit stations.

But 2020 had other plans.

“A month before we’re supposed to launch,” Tobias told Global News one afternoon, “… after signing a trade deal with Metrolinx to go to five stations, the pandemic struck and our world has changed dramatically. “

Foot traffic at GO stations fell 95%, as did Tobias’ main source of income. Its coffee truck manufacturing business suddenly came to a halt.

“We have made the difficult decision to temporarily leave stations until GO train passenger traffic resumes,” said Tobias.

But that still left his fleet of coffee trucks sitting there, parked and unused. That’s when Tobias had an idea: to switch from serving espresso to another type of shot.

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“I was so frustrated at night that we couldn’t get our team vaccinated,” said Tobias.

Although his office in Vaughan is in a zip code identified as a COVID-19 hotspot, Tobias was unable to vaccinate his employees due to where they lived. So he decided to donate his fleet and other assets for free – donating “our vehicles, our fuel, our drivers and I guess our insurance,” said Tobias, to partner with Michael Garron Hospital in East York to bring people vaccines. .

“We charge all [medical] equipment on the truck and we take our truck to the site, ”said Tobias. “This includes the needles, the computers and the antiseptic, and we take care of all the logistics.”

On some days, its trucks function as mobile vaccination clinics, transporting frontline health workers and vaccines to COVID-19 hot spots.

“We will transport [the vaccines], but they use their own cooling devices to make sure they’re kept at the right temperature for inoculation that day, ”Tobias said. “We’ll maybe go to three or four buildings and we’ll get settled… and people will come out of the building to get their shots there, wait 15 minutes and go about their business.”

On other days Tobias will show up at a fixed vaccination clinic to hand out free coffees to staff and those who have lined up for their vaccine – as part of a new campaign he has started called Jab and a Java.

“With the second vaccination campaign, we wanted to create an incentive for people who are a little suspicious [about getting the jab]”said Tobias.

“Our goal is to provide 15,000 free cups of coffee with 15,000 inoculations.”

“We are not in very good shape financially so we are in the market looking for a corporate sponsor who is willing to help us achieve this and I am really very happy to say that we have already raised 40% of the dollars needed. to deliver 15,000 cups of coffee.

With more than 13,000 inoculations already performed via these pop-ups, Phillip Anthony, director of eastern Toronto immunization strategy at Michael Garron Hospital, says Fleets Coffee’s contributions are helping save lives.

“They were able to help us organize more clinics just based on their willingness to help deliver our supplies,” Anthony said. “It’s just what the city needs right now, it’s just what the country needs right now – people stepping up and wanting to make a difference.

As to why he’s doing it when he’s already in a financial hole, Tobias says it’s his way of reversing a pandemic that has tried to take everything away.

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“Ever since we started running these immunization clinics, everyone on our team – a huge smile on their faces,” said Tobias.

“At the end of the day, they come home in awe of our business, our contribution and the difference we make and you can’t pay for that kind of feeling. We are really getting one step and one jab closer every day to get back to normal.

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