Meet the St. Paul Snow Angel who finds volunteers to shovel snow for those who can't

It was during the first winter of the COVID-19 pandemic that Heather Worthington got the idea of helping connect volunteers with the folks unable to clear their snow-covered sidewalks and driveways. And Saintly City Snow Angels was born.

Worthington, managing consultant for St. Paul-based Center for Economic Inclusion, has 25 years of leadership experience in local government, including Ramsey County, Minneapolis and Edina. Her work organizing snow shoveling is more on the grassroots level.

With winter around the corner, Eye on St. Paul thought it might be a good time to touch base with Worthington and connect with her no-cost service. The interview was edited for length.

Q: How did this idea get started?

A: My husband used to take the train to work, from where we live in Hamline-Midway, and he came home one day and he said, "The sidewalks were so icy today, it was dangerous getting to the train." And I said, "Gee, wouldn't it be great if there was something like a community bulletin board where people could post if they needed help with shoveling and people would help them, and we could just connect people?" Then I realized: "Oh, well, you could do that on Facebook."

Q: What you're doing is just a little matchmaking, right?

A: Yes. It's basically an electronic bulletin board. This year, we're finally moving to a web-based platform [in February]. So now you'll pull out Google maps, visit the website and it will pull out a form and it will find your location and be able to match you with people nearby. And that's due to a grant from the city of St. Paul.

A: I think it's going to be under $5,000. We're going to roll [the website] out in late February.

Q: How many people are involved?

A: We have more than 1,200 members. Maybe two-thirds are people who need shoveling. There can be any kind of physical limitation. A really common one is, "We're both elderly now and we just can't get out there." Another one is, "I'm eight months pregnant and I can't do it right now." Or, "I have a chronic disease and I can't shovel."

Q: Do they need to ask every time it snows?

A: No. Ideally, at the beginning of the season, you put the ask out there. You connect with somebody who's going to shovel for you and then you maintain that relationship through the season. I would say 80 to 90 percent of people do it that way.

There are parts of the city where we really need more volunteers. The East Side is a big part of the city where we need more. The North End. We need people in Frogtown. And Dayton's Bluff.

Q: How do you do that?

A: I pull out those neighborhood Facebook pages and ask people. Sometimes that's successful. Merriam Park, Como Park, in those areas it works really well. Highland, it works a little less. Just word of mouth.

Q: There's no cost?

A: No. In fact, we've had people who say they're willing to pay. And we say, "Then you should hire somebody because that's not who we are." We are for people who are in a situation where they don't have money to pay someone to shovel.

Q: What kinds of folks are volunteering?

A: Everybody. There are so many people. When we started, we were just Midway Snow Angels and we had about 85 members that first season. The next season, I want to say we grew to like, 200 to 300. And I said to my husband, "I think we should go citywide. It feels like everybody should get in on the action."

Q: That said, how long can you keep doing this?

A: I don't think we can grow any more on Facebook, which is why we need to migrate it to a website. It will just make it more accessible to people. Ideally, after February, people who run elder-care services will just go directly to the website, put in their client's name and match them with somebody. That's how it keeps going.

Q: Self-service matchmaking?

Q: So how many people are asking for help this winter?

A: We get one or more a day right now, but it's not snowing. When it's snowing, it's a zoo. Last winter was nuts. It was so snowy, and it was just like one storm after another.