Help Nina Achieve Her Dreams!!

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For those of you that do not know me, my name is Jordan and I have the proud honor of being Nina Baker Forrest's husband. I would humbly like to request 15 minutes of your time to read Nina's story below and, if you feel so inclined after reading, to possibly lend her a helping hand as she has done for so many people over the years.

If you are reading this, chances are you already know Nina. If you know Nina, then I do not even need to say that she is the kindest, funniest, most caring person I have ever had the opportunity to have met. OH, and did I mention that hands down, she is the most naturally talented cook I have had the pleasure of dining with. Anyone of you out there that has ever eaten at any of her establishments or just attended a gathering at her house, know that this is not just the boast of a proud husband but a hard fact.

As a little background, it all started back on Vancouver Island where Nina and her mom ran a restaurant called McSwiggins in the Comox Valley. Their mission was to provide a breakfast and lunch restaurant with large home-cooked portions at a good price. They were very successful in this endeavor and ran for many years until her mom passed away. At this point, the restaurant was sold and Nina took a decade away from the restaurant business to do some much-needed soul-searching. In the end, she realized that providing people with good food was what she had always wanted to do and what her mom had trained her for.

Nina received this opportunity when I was offered a job at Dawson Creek. After being there just under a year, Nina was able to secure the local airport restaurant. Even with all the protests that she should not take this endeavor on, with statements like..... Nobody can make the airport restaurant work.........The airport is where restaurants go to die....., she still chose to push onward believing in her dream. Within no time she had a regular customer base and on weekends there were times you needed to wait for seats to get that beautiful hearty breakfast everyone loved. Nina had done it and brought the airport diner back from the dead, I was very proud of her, who wouldn't be!!!

But, as with all things in life, the Dawson Creek dream was not to last forever. We were starting to miss life on the coast and all the friends and family we had left behind. The last year was difficult in Dawson during the pandemic, as it was for everyone. Restaurants were hard-hit during the lockdown. Nina kept her ovens running the whole time. If the customers could not come into the diner, she arranged to meet them in the parking lot to get them their food. On top of that, I made many trips with Nina to local families and seniors' houses to deliver soup and fresh bread that she had extra. That girl's heart is pure gold. So with everything adding up, we decided it was time to move back to the lower mainland as I was offered a position in Chilliwack.

Once the move was over and we were in Chilliwack, it was decided to transfer the restaurant business into a more sustainable endeavor of a food truck. A food truck seemed to fit the changing food industry better during post covid time as well as allowed Nina to scale down her operation to something more sustainable and still allow her to provide good food to her customers.

So the hunt for a food truck was on. This was our first disappointment, as most food trucks on the market that were worth their "salt" have an asking price of well over $100,000. We did not have this sort of funding so we started chasing the "deals". After a couple of months of looking at junkers, wreckers, and general P.O.S's we finally found a truck that seemed to be everything that we had been looking for.

So a trip to Cranbrook happened and we ended up purchasing the truck you see on the top of the page. We loved this truck and Nina named her "Birdie" after the song "Blue Bird". All the trouble started once we got back to Chilliwack with the truck. There is no manual on purchasing a food truck, what was required and what you should look for. Being a trained marine engineer I felt confident that I could inspect the truck itself and determine its mechanical condition. And it was in good condition, this was an old FedEx Freightliner Utilimaster with a Cumings diesel engine that ran like a dream. What we did not know about and which caused us to be taken, was the "food" portion of the truck.

When it came time to start getting all the paperwork and certification in order, it was found out that the truck was a lie. The propane was not installed to code and was not certified. The electrical was not to code and was not certified. The line fridge was totally broken, we believe the seller put ice in it before we arrived the day of the sale to simulate it being cold, he was really quick to show us and then unplug it. There was no vent "bell" for the cooking vapors. The hood vent was faked and actually had bathroom exhaust fans installed in it. No fireboard was installed behind the stove and cooking appliances. There was no fire suppression system installed at all. The list goes on. Devastated, Nina took the truck to a food truck builder to have them review what could be salvaged. This company builds top-of-the-line trucks and their quote to recover the truck to operating status was well over $70,000. Nina was crushed. It was suggested that the seller could be taken to court, as selling the truck without the correct certifications was illegal. But, with little funds left and being faced with a strung-out legal battle, this idea was rejected.

Every penny that Nina had earned in Dawson Creek as well as our savings had gone into this purchase not to mention some help from one very generous family member. It came down to two choices, sell the truck for a loss or try to get the work done piecemeal locally. After such a defeat and seeing that she only had $10,000 left to invest, Nina was ready to throw in the towel, and I don't blame her. What changed her mind was what Nina does best, she met a wonderful assortment of local people. It never ceases to amaze me the number of people that gravitate to Nina's circle and how fast she makes friends, she truly has a magnetic personality and her love for everyone is so sincere. Like Nina always does, she started baking for her new friends and they convinced her to continue to follow her dreams. New friends also come with new contacts and people were able to suggest local businesses that could lend her a hand in getting the truck up and running.

I know this has been a long read, and for those of you that have made it this far, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me your time. We have managed to find a wonderful local business, Century Plumbing and Heating, that has food truck experience. They can fix all the gas system and get it certified, install a new hood vent and fan as well as a roof bell, get the fireboard installed, relocate the gas storage, as well as arrange for a fire suppression system to be installed. The price for all this work would come to just over $20,000. This is where the problem lies, Nina has only $10,000 left, thus the target of this campaign is $10,000.

Over the 20 years I have been with Nina, I have seen her reach out and offer a hand to so many people. She never hesitates to help someone in need, from giving food to people that cannot afford it to just stopping and speaking with a complete stranger on the street and hearing their story. I feel that all the goodness she has spread around over the years may have a chance to come back. She is a very proud person and would never proceed with something like this on her own, and that is where I come in. I wanted to tell Nina's story and not just ask for money. I wanted you to understan that this is to help her achieve her dream. I am a firm believer that greatness is achieved through hard work, overcoming obstacles, and the ability to push on. Nina has done all of this and now I would love to see her dreams come to fruition. The food that she will produce will feed so many people and her interactions with her customers will add that bit of joy to the days of so many people. Please, any little amount will help but only what you can afford, I am eternally grateful. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my words today.

I wish you all well.