Community Strong Heart2Hart is a group of residents who help anyone in need in the Hart neighbourhood of Prince George.
Things like a senior needing their driveway shoveled, a hot meal delivered to someone who is sick, wood chopped for someone injured and hampers for those starting over, are some of the things they’ve already provided and the demand continues to grow.
It started with a core group of four people who came together when someone posted they would like accessibility across a small gully near a Hart seniors’ apartment building.
When four volunteers showed up to get the job done last August with donated supplies, Heart2Hart literally bridged the gap and continues to put people together – those who need something done and those who are willing to do it.
Aryn Ziemer is the first to deflect any credit, saying she’s just the one who is geared towards organizing and willing to take to social media to help put people together but the real heroes, she said, are the people with boots on the ground to get the jobs done.
The Community Strong Heart2Hart team along with Aryn, includes Lorne Ziemer, Clint Bleich, and Mark Dickinson.
“It’s actually a pretty cool phenomenon that we’re watching unfold,” Aryn said. “It’s a huge movement and it’s really kinda crazy.”
People are willing to pitch in any way they can and some donate bottles to raise money for supplies – building materials, groceries, kitchenware – anything people require – and now there's a cash fund set up to help people in need in the Hart.
“The whole community has come together and said ‘we will help’, and so four people looked at each other and said ‘let’s do this’,” Aryn said.
They’ve been going strong ever since and have gotten so busy that there’s another member helping with admin duties and that’s Nellie Clarke.
So far and still counting the Community Strong group has done at least 14 emergency hampers, cooked 40 Christmas meals, did six Christmas food hampers, shoveled countless driveways – sometimes doing nine driveways a day, two vehicle maintenances, and so much wood has been chopped and put up for easy access.
There are a small number of people who are helped continually by the community-service group, Aryn said, just by accepting offers of soup or some spinach out of the garden.
There are some working people struggling who have to make the difficult choice between keeping a roof over their heads or getting groceries, so providing food is the answer that Community Strong Heart2Hart can provide.
“We’ve had so many people reach out and we hope that when other areas of Prince George hear about what we’re doing up here, they will start their own group to help those in their own neighbourhood,” Aryn said.
The group knows they can’t be everywhere for everyone so they keep their community service geared where the group is geographically located, she added.
“There are just so many people out there who need help right here in the Hart,” Aryn said.
For more information visit the Community Strong Heart2Hart page.
