British ColumbiaA Prince George, B.C., man who recently lost a leg has teamed up with neighbours to start a charity to give back to the community that supported him through his health challenges.Prince George man forms community support group to help pay forward the kindness he received from neighboursHanna Petersen · CBC News · Posted: Dec 05, 2025 10:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 6 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence. Mark Dickinson, Clint Bleich, Erin Ziemer, Nellie Clarke and Lorne Ziemer are the founding members of the Community Strong Hart Highway group. (submitted/Clint Bleich)Clint Bleich is a diabetic who lives in the Hart neighbourhood, a tight-knit community along the John Hart Highway on the northern outskirts of Prince George, B.C. He has been dealing with diabetes-related complications for the past few years. Nerve damage caused him to lose his toes in 2021 and this September he lost his lower leg to amputation. But Bleich says despite his health challenges, he’s found strength in giving back to the community that has supported him. “The reason I wanted to help was because when I started going through my troubles, my health struggles, you soon realize who your real friends are,” he said. “Things got really, really tough for me and the strangers that stepped up and helped me just made me want to give back.” Clint Bleich with Community Strong Hart Highway member Nellie Clarke. (Submitted/Clint Bleich )Bleich and fellow Hart resident Erin Ziemer started Community Strong Hart Highway, a charity that works to support neighbours in the Hart in any way possible. Join CBC to help Make the Season Kind for Canadians this winterIt started in the fall of 2023 when Ziemer posted on Facebook asking for help to rebuild some wooden footbridges to improve accessibility at a seniors’ home. Bleich suggested they run a bottle drive and decided to use the extra money they raised to start a charity to keep helping others in the neighbourhood. The group has since grown and now co-ordinates volunteers to help shovel driveways, chop wood, change car batteries, pick up groceries or deliver hot meals or food hampers for those in need. Community Strong Hart Highway helps neighbours with groceries, hot meals, and food hampers for the holidays. (Submitted/Clint Bleich)When they can’t find volunteers, they raise money to hire someone in need of work to do the job. “I myself have a disability. One of our other admins also has a disability so we’re disabled people helping people,” said Ziemer. “I don’t even know how to explain how rewarding it is and not only is it rewarding, it gives us purpose.” When Bleich was undergoing his amputation earlier this year, Ziemer, along with her husband and volunteers from the group, built him a new deck and wheelchair ramp so he could get in and out of his house after he was discharged from the hospital. ‘Tears of joy’ Bleich says not only has the community stepped up to help him, but the opportunity to give back has changed who he is as a person. “I never really cared about other people,” said Bleich.He said growing up in the ‘80s he would get into fights as a teenager and liked seeing people cry. “I still enjoy seeing people cry, but it’s for a different reason. They’re tears of joy.” Bleich recalled changing a car battery for an elderly woman who was unable to do it for herself. “She was crying so hard because she was so relieved that she didn’t have this one more stressful thing in her head. She was good to go and that just made me so happy to be able to give back to somebody that needed it, right? Because I knew what it was like to be at rock bottom.” While the group is run by five core volunteers, Ziemer says it has become a space where neighbours can connect independently and help one another, and she hopes to see it continue to grow. “I grew up in a whole different part of the city and the closeness of that part of the city wasn’t as much as what the Hart is,” said Ziemer. “It’s unbelievable how willing these people are to help other people.” CBC B.C. is hosting its annual Make the Season Kind campaign in support of Food Banks in B.C. on Friday, Dec. 5, featuring a day full of special programming. Anyone wishing to make a donation as part of the campaign can go to cbc.ca/kindbc, where a drop-down menu will direct your donation to any of the 111 food banks that are part of Food Banks B.C. ABOUT THE AUTHORHanna Petersen is a reporter for CBC News, working out of the Prince George, B.C., bureau. You can email her at hanna.petersen@cbc.ca.
B.C. man devotes himself to helping neighbours after amputation leaves him searching for purpose
