February is Heart Month and here at Show Me St. Louis, we are partnering with Serra Honda to shed some light on local heart organizations. We are starting the Heart of STL series with the Ollie Hinkle Heart foundation. They say they are in the business of spreading love, and we couldn’t agree more.
Love poured in from friends, family, and strangers when Mark and Jen Hinkle’s son Ollie died from a congenital heart defect eight years ago. They wanted to pay it forward, so they started the Ollie Hinkle Heart Foundation. Jen saw a post on Instagram about an older couple that helped solidify the mission.
Jen explains that the post was a bout an elderly couple. The husband was dying, and the wife wondered how she would go on without him. The husband told her to simply go and spread her love for him around to others. Mark and Jen decided to do the same with Ollie.
Spread Love is the foundation’s catch phrase, and the goal is to strengthen and empower families of children with CHD. Research shows families of children with CHD can often experience symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress.
The Ollie Hinkle Heart Foundation is offering free mental health services for these families, including siblings and grandparents. It is also helping to fund new technology that is saving lives, including a new type of 3D printer at St. Louis Children’s hospital.
The foundation just launched a new campaign called Spread More Love in 2021. You can pickup a card and pin at Olive & Oak, Perennial on Lockwood, Clover and the Bee, and O+O Pizza in Webster Groves.
To make a donation, visit theohhf.org website.
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