Winter can be a very isolating time for seniors or people with mobility issues, but Snow Angels Canada is here to help.
“I think our city does a great job of clearing streets and sidewalks; however, it doesn’t help if you can’t get to the street or sidewalk,” said Lincoln McCardle, founder of Snow Angels Canada.
Snow Angels is a volunteer snow removal services that looks to assist those who are elderly, have mobility issues, or need assistance with shoveling.
McCardle describes the program as an experiment in kindness. They threw up the website to see if they gave people the chance to help each other out would they. McCardle said that so far the answer is yes since they around five to ten volunteers for every person who needs help.
Through the website, “it allows people who need help with shoveling snow to connect with volunteers who are willing to do it for them,” he said. From there, people can log in and see who is close to them through google maps to make arrangements.
“The main thing that we kept in mind when we were building the website is privacy. So, when I log into the website, I see just what you would see when you log in,” said McCardle. As he highlighted, “you don’t want to create a database of vulnerable citizens.” Which is why the addresses are not listed on the website, and people must make connections to assist others and get assistance.
The program does not have a list of volunteers. It is based upon people signing up, making connections, and getting what they are looking for out of the program whether that be to get assistance or assisting others.
Like everything else in our lives, COVID-19 has also impacted Snow Angels. But one might argue for the better. Due to the pandemic, people are home more often. As McCardle pointed out, one can only watch so much Netflix or play so many games.
“It’s always important, at least to me, to have connections in the community. But during this time, its really come to light really where the weaknesses are and what we are letting fall through the cracks. So, I don’t think that this is the be all end all to end that problem, but its a small part that can hopefully help,” he said.
In the past, Snow Angels was just a program in London, Ontario for the past five years. But recently, it expanded to all across Canada.
At the end of the day, McCardle said that he hopes “that it will allow people who need the help to get the help, and if, kind of as a side benefit, we’re able to create connections then between neighbors then that’s an added benefit of the program.”
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