{"id":4803,"date":"2013-12-04T13:41:01","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T18:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=4803"},"modified":"2013-12-04T13:41:01","modified_gmt":"2013-12-04T18:41:01","slug":"helping-those-in-need-one-shovel-of-snow-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/helping-those-in-need-one-shovel-of-snow-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping those in need one shovel of snow at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking to have an impact on someone\u2019s life, it could be just be one shovel-full of snow away.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the message of Neighbourhood Network, the Aurora-based volunteer organization serving Aurora, Newmarket, East Gwillimbury and Georgina as they forge ahead with their volunteer snow removal program. <\/p>\n

It is a service that connects able bodied people in the community with low-income seniors and persons with disabilities who would otherwise have trouble getting in and out of their homes after heavy snowfalls. If you\u2019re in need, and you meet the eligibility requirements, volunteers clear a path to your door, shovel the ends of your driveway which might be blocked by a passing snow plow, as well as sidewalks. <\/p>\n

Potential recipients of the service must receive a seniors\u2019 tax credit or have a disability document. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t live within those [boundaries] there is no way we will be able to meet the demand and miss those who are truly in need,\u201d says Steve Hinder of Neighbourhood Network. <\/p>\n

Founded in 2008, Mr. Hinder says the program is the brainchild of John Taylor, Regional Councillor for Newmarket, who said the town had received numerous requests from seniors and persons with disabilities who \u201cfelt like prisoners in their own homes\u201d during the winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew there were people in the community who had someone living around the corner who would be more than happy to come around and help them out,\u201d says Mr. Hinder. \u201cOur goal is to identify where those needs are and where the resources are and hook them up. The community has all the resources it needs to address these community issues and they just don\u2019t know one another exists. Our role is to put the two of them together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone who is able and wants to have a real impact on the lives of others are ideal volunteers for the service, he adds. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe neat thing that has developed from this over the years is there have been some relationships where a senior living on their own, and a young person shows up and shovels snow and they have almost adopted them,\u201d says Mr. Hinder. \u201cThey all have hot chocolate together and develop a relationship and that is pretty cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is really grassroots community development.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on the program, visit www.neighbourhoodnetwork.org, or call 905-726-3737.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re looking to have an impact on someone\u2019s life, it could be just be one shovel-full of snow away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-1ft","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-10 17:05:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}