By Mayor Cameron Smyth
“We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up … discovering we have the strength to stare it down.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
“You Learn by Living”
A pandemic hasn’t had this kind of impact on the global community since the Spanish Flu of 1918. Being that more than a century has passed, most of us have never taken the time even to contemplate the kind of complete upheaval COVID-19 has had on our lives.
Therefore, workers in a variety of essential businesses never considered that they would become the heroes on the frontlines of this pandemic.
Yet each and every day, our bus drivers, grocery workers, mail carriers, trash collectors and so many more essential workers are now serving and protecting our community by continuing to do their jobs. Meanwhile, our more traditionally thought of as heroes — the Sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, doctors and nurses — are earning that title even more during this time of uncertainty.
I encourage the entire Santa Clarita community to help support our heroes through the #HeartsForHeroes campaign. This is a visual campaign that can be seen on doors, windows and sidewalks throughout the City but also filling our social media feeds.
To take part, you can either design your own heart or download the template at santa-clarita.com/heartsforheroes.
Decorate your heart, snap a photo of it and then display it on your home for the community to see. Also, make sure to post the photo on social media using #HeartsForHeroes. The online posts and photos are then collected and shared with the medical workers at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, our Sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and posted on signs and screens throughout the City.
These hearts will show love and support for our essential heroes as they continue the daunting tasks they face every day. Join the City of Santa Clarita in showing your gratitude.
It is also heartening to see the other ways our community has come together to support our heroes. I see social media posts on a daily basis of local restaurants and organizations bringing food and much-needed supplies to our essential workers.
Last week I joined my fellow councilmembers to donate 1,000 N95 masks, water, barricades and other personal protective equipment to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. I want to thank Wolf Creek for helping us provide lunch, as well as one of the newer local businesses, Illumination Dynamics, for providing the hospital with a generator.
The City has also partnered with Chick Fil A, Crazy Ottos, Jersey Mikes and Sgt. Pepper’s Wood Fired Pizza to provide meals for our hardworking Sheriff’s deputies and Los Angeles County firefighters. I thank all of our community partners for coming together to support one another during this time.
We still have several weeks left on the health order requiring social distancing, and I thank all of you for doing your part to keep Santa Clarita safe. Together we will make it through this crisis by showing love, compassion, gratitude and support. Thank you to all the essential workers and first responders.
Mayor Cameron Smyth is a member of the Santa Clarita City Council and can be reached at csmyth@santa-
clarita.com. The views expressed in his column are those of the City and do not necessarily reflect those of The Signal.
