ROLLING OUT THE HELP
Truck driver Shane Dankoski was stunned when he heard about toilet paper shortages, so when he came across some in his travels, he stocked up and offered rolls to those in need. Here he readies packages with daughter Jaida and spouse Alesia.
Shane Dankoski is an extremely normal guy. Or he was, until he started handing out toilet paper.
In the past week, Dankoski and his family have given more than 200 rolls of TP to families in Saskatoon who need a helping hand (or roll).
It’s not something that normally earns attention, but in recent weeks, COVID-19 panic-buying has cleared Saskatoon shelves of the treasured tissue. No one is really sure why toilet paper stockpiling became the de facto response to a pandemic instead of, for example, food or medicine, and industry spokespeople have been clear there is no shortage of the stuff.
But Dankoski began to hear of many families who legitimately couldn’t get toilet paper, even as others hoarded it.
“I couldn’t imagine being a single mom and literally sitting here with your children unable to get toilet paper,” Dankoski said.
He makes a living as a semi-truck driver. One day, on a run to a smaller town, he picked up a jumbo pack of toilet paper and put a post on Facebook offering to drop off a roll to anyone who needed it.
The response, to put it lightly, was not expected.
“The messages started rolling in. I had hundreds and hundreds,” he said. “I just couldn’t keep up.”
Dankoski started giving out as many rolls as he could, making deliveries or handing them off at his doorstep with help from his two-year-old daughter and her Fisher-price shopping cart.
“A lot of people have honestly cried,” he said.
“It’s like you’re walking up to these people and you’re giving them gold.”
Dankoski said he’s also received more than 100 messages from people not requesting paper, but thanking him.
He doesn’t think what he’s doing is special. He thinks it’s what anyone would do — and he hopes others in Saskatoon follow suit.
“When you think about it, it’s just toilet paper, right? We’re all trying to get through this and make ends meet, even if we can’t be together physically.”