HALIFAX: Thanks of a partnership of shared values, something special has been created out of the global pandemic recognizing Nova Scotia’s health care heroes.
The Hero Bar, which comes in a plain milk chocolate or a dark chocolate with almonds option, is a creation of Peace by Chocolate’s Peace on Earth Society and the Nursing Homes of Nova Scotia Association (NHNSA) and was released on Long Term Care Day on June 17.
“The reason why we wanted to do this is to celebrate the role nursing homes in Nova Scotia do to show respect for our elders and to those who provide their care,” Tareq Hadhad told The Reporter. “Also for all of those ordinary people in the nursing homes, who on a daily basis are doing extraordinary things during these unprecedented times.”
The design of the bar is very eye-catching, he said, with brightly coloured wrappers that feature a superhero bursting forth with messages of “strong, brave, sweet, you’ll always be my hero, be kind, be sweet and be grateful,” and it’s really to honour the super heroes among us.
“It’s a chocolate bar that celebrates more than one person, we’re celebrating a sector,” Hadhad said. “These chocolate bars have been created to recognize, not only the front-line heroes in long term care and the whole health care sector, but also for all of the heroic sacrifices we are seeing throughout the pandemic.”
The idea behind the two new specialty bars, he said, came from representatives with New Glasgow’s Glen Haven Manor, and the two teams started working together on the flavours, the design, the concept, and launch date.
“Throughout the pandemic, many superheroes have emerged. Some are behind the scenes, some are at the forefront and each one has their own superpowers,” Michele Lowe, executive director of NHNSA said. “There are the heroes in health care, heroes in essential services, heroes who are first responders, heroes in science and research, education heroes and heroes in leadership roles such as Dr. Robert Strang. Not to be forgotten are the many everyday heroes in our own lives.”
A percentage of all sales of these bars will be designated to go toward supporting the NHNSA and the province’s frontline caregivers through the creation of a bursary fund.
While the bar was released on Long Term Care Day, it was not only meant for that day and going forward, it will be an everyday product and in addition to being available online, for their retail and wholesale distributors, along with their flagship stores in Antigonish and downtown Halifax, it’s available in over 15 other locations across the Maritime provinces.
The bursary will be administered by the NHNSA and awarded to a NSCC student pursuing studies as a Continuing Care Assistant; the first year for the bursary will be in 2022.
“We’re going to see some developments on the concept on the bars as we move forward, as well,” Hadhad said. “The concept itself, to celebrate the heroes among us, people can see they are making a difference when they buy this product. Every cent counts, when people are buying this bar, people are making a difference already.”
Some heroes appear every day and others, he said, are there just when we need them most.
“The bars represent our belief in the power of kindness, the recognition of bravery throughout the pandemic and being grateful for the blessing of being Canadians, living in harmony as we respect and value our diverse heritages, many talents and each other.”