By Sophia Keshmiri
The Keene Sentinel
PETERBOROUGH, N.H. — When it comes to addressing hunger, Dan Heffernan is just getting started.
The Peterborough Fire and Rescue paramedic started spearheading department food drives last year to collect items for a program at the ConVal School District that gives students food to take home on the weekend. End 68 Hours of Hunger at ConVal is one of several chapters across New Hampshire schools, and seven other states. The program aims to help communities feed schoolchildren between Friday afternoon and Monday morning, when school is not in session.
“We’ve only done four so far,” the 55-year-old recently said of the food drives. “But I’m really hoping to continue it as long as I can.”
Man of many talents ... and siblings
Heffernan grew up in a big family in Brookline, Mass., and Boston. He ended up in New Hampshire and the Monadnock Region because family moved here.
The youngest of seven siblings, father of two sons and a stepdaughter, and uncle to roughly 20 nieces and nephews said he’s always had a soft spot for children.
“My siblings were good to me growing up, mostly because I was to some of them, I was more of a toy,” Heffernan joked.
“My next older sister, you know, I was kind of her baby, so it’s cool, you know, to be an active part of her kids’ lives as well.”
Heffernan, who now lives in Bow, described himself as a “jack of all trades,” and said he’s held posts in various industries, including at a garage, in a paper mill and at a seafood processing plant.
Heffernan, who began checking off first responder certifications in the ‘90s, grew up surrounded by people involved in public safety.
“I grew up around firehouses,” he said. “And very blue-collar neighborhoods. You know, my neighbors were mostly in public safety, one or the other, either cops or firemen. And I had an uncle that was with Boston Fire , and so was at that firehouse a lot.”
In 1997, he held his first firefighting position in Antrim after learning the squad was short-staffed. A few years later, he became an EMT. He had stints at other departments throughout New England and in 2015, when he was 45, he became a paramedic. He’s been with Peterborough Fire and Rescue for the past 4½ years.
Heffernan said he wasn’t “thrilled” at first to make the transition from firefighting to medicine. But his curiosity and can-do attitude prevailed.
“The more I would try to do, the more I would find I didn’t know, and that you really do learn how much you don’t know,” Heffernan recalled. “It just became more and more interesting to me.”
And his coworkers are a big plus, he added. “We’re not just a team, but we’re a family,” he said. “There are people there that … I joke that they’re my work kids.”
Although Heffernan is passionate about the work, he said it’s not without its challenges. One of those is personal mental health, and this is one aspect of the job he wants to help newer paramedics navigate.
“These are guys that I will look out for. And like, try to prevent them from either making the mistakes that I’ve made, or give them better ways to deal with traumatic situations,” he said.
‘Do what we can’
Heffernan was trying to put together an initiative through the Peterborough Fire and Rescue Department to help kids experiencing food insecurity when he found out about the End 68 Hours of Hunger program.
But his first glimpse at the issue came years before, when his children were in school.
When his sons, now 28 and 26, were in their tween and teenage years, they’d tear through his pantry after school. “I’d be like, ‘Guys, what, I fed you; I literally sent you with, you know, lunches with all kinds of food.’ ”
He quickly learned the kids would share their meals with friends who didn’t normally have a lunch. “So I would just make a lunch for them too … bread’s cheap, peanut butter is cheap … so it’s not that big a deal to make an extra lunch.”
With his kids now adults, and having been out of school for several years, Heffernan said he “didn’t know what the need was.”
“Now that I do, it’s do what we can.”
Last year, he started helping tackle the issue head on. He spearheaded an initiative with Peterborough Fire and Rescue to collect food and raise funds for ConVal students experiencing food insecurity.
End 68 Hours of Hunger came to ConVal about nine years ago. Two volunteers brought the program, which is named for its goal to address weekend food insecurity among schoolchildren, to the school district. Schools in California, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Ohio also offer the program in addition to dozens from New Hampshire that participate. Participating schools in the Monadnock Region include those in the Hinsdale, Fall Mountain and Monadnock school districts, in addition to ConVal.
“There are a lot of kids that ... if they’re not in school, they don’t eat. Just period, there’s ... no if, ands or buts about it,” Heffernan said.
According to End 68 Hours of Hunger, one in five children in the United States experiences food insecurity.
The ConVal program collects donations from a number of area organizations, but the drives Heffernan organized were a first for the coordinators. He had the idea to partner with the Shaw’s in town.
“It was a rousing success,” Heffernan said of the first drive, which was held at the grocery story last January. He said he’s aiming for about three per year.
Shaw’s ordered extra items and put some on sale, according to Heffernan, who said the drives wouldn’t be as successful without the store management team’s help.
“We start at 9 a.m., we finish up at 1 [p.m.] and we usually have an ambulance. We call it the ‘stuff an ambulance.’ So we’ll bring an ambulance up. And we set up a little table.”
The most recent drive, the fourth, was held earlier this year and brought in close to 1,000 food items and a little over that much in monetary donations.
Heffernan said one of the aspects he enjoys is meeting others who want to help the cause by donating.
“You’re helping a kid that could be the one that finds the cure for cancer, or, you know, gets us to Pluto, whatever the case may be. Like you’re helping ... a kid with the most fundamental needs.”
Linda Caracappa, one of the co-coordinators for the ConVal program, said the program matters to ConVal students.
“It’s important because there are a lot of kids that are food insecure and ... it doesn’t always show up in the numbers,” she said. There are currently 240 students who receive food through the program each week.
Caracappa said some of the older kids served by the program have spoken out about how it helps. “We have spoken to teenagers who ... work a job, they’re trying to go to school, and there isn’t enough food at home,” she added. “And this helps them ... it doesn’t fix everything, but it helps them.”
Caracappa called Heffernan “a spitfire.”
“His brain is always going, and he’s so passionate about it, and it’s very inspiring, you know, for us to have people like that ... and his whole team, like the volunteers that he has.”
She said at the moment, the program is in need of personal hygiene products like deodorant, and Heffernan was immediately ready to help.
And he says he’s ready to keep at it.
“I’ve got about another 11 years before I can retire,” Heffernan noted. “In a perfect world, I would love to continue doing it for another 11 years.”
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