#ShovelItForward: Kindness crossing borders?
For the sick and the elderly, shoveling snow is not just a drag – it can be downright dangerous.
A social media campaign that first popped up in the Midwest is hoping to help ease that burden by calling on able-bodied people everywhere to grab their shovels and dig out their neighbors’ walks.
#ShovelItForward has now gone viral. In Connecticut , local teens Josh Elphick and Nico Bartelli offered to shovel a foot of snow from a neighbor’s walk so that her heating oil could be delivered, ABC affiliate WTNH-TV in New Haven reported .
“It puts a smile on my face, so I enjoy it,” Mr. Bartelli told WTNH. “I try to do what I can from time to time.”
In Canada , auto retail company Canadian Tire has taken the hashtag to a new level with a dedicated website that includes an interactive map and infographics about shoveling safety.
#ShovelItForward began when local firefighters in Greenfield, Wis. were called in Sunday to take an elderly man to the hospital after he suffered what the fire department described as a cardiac emergency while trying to clear his driveway, NBC reported .
Their task done, the firefighters went back to the man’s home and finished his shoveling for him. One neighbor snapped a photo, which has since received more than 23,000 likes on the Greenfield Fire Department's Facebook page .
“Anyone can make a difference,” Greenfield fire chief John Cohn told CBS News .
The trend, if it continues to stick, could prove a relief to a lot of senior homeowners: The barrage of snow that began at the end of January is expected to last well into next week in the Midwest, New England , and upstate New York , according to The Weather Channel .
