It was a cold morning in early 2015 and I had just finished my shovelling. With a little time and energy on my hands I decided I was also do my neighbours, an elderly widow who I was certain would appreciate the help. I was almost done when she came to the door, I assumed to thanks me – but no, she actually paid someone to do it for her and I was essentially “throwing her money away” by helping. I offered a brief apology and assured her I would not do it again going forward. As I stood there still a little in shock, I thought to myself “I bet I could throw a snowball and hit a dozen houses that would appreciate the assistance.” It was that very moment that Snow Angels Canada was born.
It was and remains an experiment in kindness: a way for Canadians to request assistance shoveling or to find others in need of such assistance. If people were given the chance to help others, would they? Anecdotally the answer so far seems to be a resounding yes. What started as a couple of crude social media pages morphed over time to the service you know and love today, thanks in no small part to the hard work by the kindred spirits of Simalam. While Snow Angels Canada remains a no-budget operation, this is only possible thanks to Blue Goose, the web design firm that created and continues to maintain the website as part of their corporate mission to do good.
To be clear, some municipalities and organizations already offer similar tools to allow neighbours to help each other with snow removal, however they are often prohibitively expensive and bureaucratic. This is simply an alternative, a community fueled tool to connect neighbours and their neighbourhood. I want to send a special and heart-felt thank you to the countless volunteers out there who are in large part responsible for any level of success we have reached to date. It can often seem to be a thankless task so just reminder that both Snow Angels Canada and the people you assist truly appreciate it.
In closing, we are proud of the work we have accomplished in out first ten years and excited to see what the next decade will bring – and beyond.