When Kingston snow piles up, Queen’s students show up.
1Yard is a student-led volunteer organization that aims to provide physically demanding home and outdoor services, such as snow shoveling and gardening support, to seniors and individuals with physical limitations. Their services are pay-what-you-can, or even free, with all profits going directly to the Princess Margaret Cancer Center, a Canadian treatment and research center.
The Journal sat down with Jay Hung, HealthSci ’27, who started 1Yard in Toronto in 2021, who explained that after his mom was diagnosed with cancer in 2019, he began reflecting on how activities like gardening and yard work play into someone’s well-being.
“My mom really enjoyed gardening,” he said. “Her well-being wasn’t just dependent on how her cancer treatment was going, but on other factors in her life, like doing yard work. In 2021, I realized it wasn’t just something my mom was experiencing, there was a lot of people in my community that could benefit from this care, that enjoyed gardening but didn’t have the physical means to do so.”
After raising over $17,000 with his Toronto team, Hung decided it was time to bring the organization with him to Kingston. Two executives of this new chapter, Alex Roth and Bo Fei Yung, both HealthSci ’27, also spoke to The Journal about why they love the organization.
“Our aim is really to help [seniors and people with physical disabilities] as much as we can, if there’s any sort of tasks that we’re able to make easier,” Roth said. “Especially with the current Kingston winter, and how bad the snow has been like, a lot of elderly people aren’t able to clear the driveway, and that leads a lot of different barriers.”
While the executives started assembling their team, which now has approximately ten members, back in September, they only started offering services at the beginning of the semester.
“We had our first wave of jobs during the most recent snowfall,” Fei Yung said. “We had around four people interested [in our services], but then only one panned out, because of communication things. Right now, our big goal is trying to make sure people who might need this service know it exists.”
Their current client outreach involves reaching out to senior centers, relevant organizations like the Alzheimer’s Society, and places like churches and synagogues that have high concentrations of elderly individuals and posting on neighbourhood-based social media forums.
The team encourages anyone interested, whether they’re a Queen’s student or not, to apply to volunteer.
“Beyond just being a lawn care of a home service organization, I think 1Yard is also about community in many ways, not just for our clients, but for our volunteers,” Yu said.
Community members wanting to access 1Yard services can do so using the contact information on their website.
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