Heartworks Sparks Kindness In Community By Helping Others

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Sept. 11, 2001 is a day that will not be forgotten. There was much sadness and sorrow but at the same it brought hope and kindness as communities came together to help each other.

"Yes there is trauma, yes it is sad but it is also a love fest," Bernardsville native Megan McDowell said during the Basking Ridge Business Alliance meeting earlier in May.

McDowell started Heartworks, a non-profit acts of kindness group, as a result of the community response to the tragedy.

McDowell had been living in Colorado on the dreadful day learning that her Basking Ridge brother-in-law John Farrell, 41, had died in the south tower of the World Trade Center. She immediately flew home to comfort her sister and their four children.

"I lived at my sister's house for six weeks after 9/11. We are an Irish family so when something happens to one of us, it happens to all of us," McDowell said.

McDowell noted how neighbors and area-residents would stop by with dinner and not just enough for a few nights. McDowell said people dropped off enough dinners for her sister's family to eat three night's a week for almost a year.

Some people even drove the kids to sports practice and helped out in anyway they can.

Once the help died down, McDowell moved back to Bernardsville to be closer. But she didn't want the "love fest" to be forgotten.

So McDowell started Heartworks in memory of her brother-in-law. She started off holding monthly meetings in her home where a few people would volunteer anything to help others in the community who had a private loss.

Donations are not just physical but can be talents. Some examples include donating meals to a parent who was diagnosed with cancer or packing lunches for a family who can't afford to send their student to school with one or walking a dog for a family. Businesses have also shared their talents to offer a free spa day or carpet cleaning for those in need.

The group has grown over time to have about 100 volunteers and acquired a location at 19 Route 202 in Basking Ridge.

"Giving is a way for all of us to heal," McDowell said.

The group meets on the first Tuesday evening of each month. There is a $30 meeting donation and all that is asked is that someone bring their own talents, passions and gifts to help others.

To learn more about Heartworks or to make a donation visit njheartworks.org or mail a check payable to: Heartworks, 19 Route 202, Basking Ridge NJ 07920 or email hollyfay@heartworksgroup.org.

(Image by Alexis Tarrazi: Megan McDowell speaking at the Basking Ridge Business Alliance meeting)

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