The story of a broken dream: we thought we bought a food truck. Fourteen months later, it was taken away.

Five years ago, our family immigrated to Nova Scotia with one hope: to give our children a better life. We worked hard in our first Canadian jobs, gave back to our community, and everything was going according to plan. Eventually we took a leap of faith and opened LeoMay Fusion Kitchen Food Truck, our family business bringing Latin and Canadian flavours together.

To make it happen, we obtained a business loan to purchase a food truck from a seller in Quebec, using the truck itself as collateral. We paid the full purchase price, in good faith, and believed everything was legitimate.

The first season operating the food truck was hard, as it is with any new business. But we kept going, kept working, learned, adapted and grew. The second season, thanks to you, our customers and neighbours, things finally started to feel like they were working.

Then, on October 14, 2026, we learned that the truck wasn’t his to sell. The police arrived and we learned that the truck was leased, that the lease payments had not been made, and that the leasing company was repossessing it. None of this had been disclosed to us when we bought it. We paid the full purchase price, believing the truck was legally ours. Fourteen months later, it was taken away, and we were left with the debt and no truck.

In one afternoon, we lost the truck we paid for and the heart of the business we had worked so hard to build. Although we still operate a small canteen in a rented space, its sales represent less than 5% of what our food truck normally generated. We are grateful to still have a place to work, but the income is nowhere near enough to support our family or meet our financial obligations.

We now find ourselves in an extremely vulnerable financial position. The truck that served as collateral for our loan is gone, but we are still responsible for the debt. We fear that our home and other family assets could now be at risk, and that our children may have to leave the school and friends they love.

We're sharing our story for two reasons: to help other people avoid finding themselves in the same situation and to ask for help from our community to help us get back on our feet. Every donation will go toward helping us purchase and equip another food truck so we can get back to work, serve our communities, and keep the business we worked so hard to build alive. If you’re not able to donate, simply sharing our story would mean just as much to us.

Thank you to everyone who has eaten with us, cheered us on, and made us feel at home here.

We’re not giving up on this dream or on this community.

With gratitude,

LeoMay Fusion Team

Oxford, Nova Scotia