{"id":43086,"date":"2024-01-02T09:50:56","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T13:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/?p=43086"},"modified":"2024-01-02T09:59:03","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T13:59:03","slug":"the-barkann-family-healing-the-community-one-heart-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.knightcrier.org\/top-stories\/2024\/01\/02\/the-barkann-family-healing-the-community-one-heart-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"The Barkann Family healing the community one heart at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Life is filled with choices. Being happy is a choice. Holding the door for the next person is a choice. Being angry is a choice. Loving someone is a choice. Health is not. Sure, eating well and working out can play a part, but some diseases and disabilities aren\u2019t affected by these things. They come into one\u2019s life in an instant without any preexisting factors or preparation and can leave a lasting impact on one’s life forever.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In times like these, families are put in a difficult situation where their old reality has disappeared and they are forced to adjust according to the scenario they were given. It is not ideal, and it can feel exhausting at times, however, there are organizations around the world that are dedicated to just that. Helping those who are dealt a bad hand make it through the unimaginable storm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Just around the corner in the Delaware Valley, The Barkann Family Healing Hearts Foundation is a non-profit organization that has made it their mission to help families that are in similar situations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe started it 11 years ago,\u201d board member Michael Barkann stated. \u201c[My wife] Ellen and [board member] Mark Maggi put on a yearly golf outing and every year the money would go to different places. One year we thought, <\/span>maybe the money isn\u2019t going where it should be going <\/span><\/i>and we were frustrated because there was nothing we could do about it. So we decided to start our 501C3 [because] we wanted to be able to direct where the money was going.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[After starting our nonprofit], we decided we wanted the money to stay in the community,\u201d Barkann said. \u201cWe wanted it to go to people having a horrible time in their lives just to try to ease some of the burden.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Coming from humble beginnings, sports analyst Michael Barkann didn\u2019t want his name to be a part of the nonprofit, but over a decade in, it has proven to work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI never wanted to have our name attached,\u201d Barkann said. \u201cI just wanted to have the Healing Hearts Foundation. I was overruled. And I thought <\/span>okay, fine, if there is any way that our name can help raise money or awareness for what we do, then absolutely I would do that.<\/span><\/i> I was raised to be humble, but over the years it worked,\u201d Barkann continued.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although having his name attached may draw some people to the foundation, Barkann makes no effort to connect his job to it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t expect anybody to help us except who wants to help us. I don\u2019t talk about it on TV and we just do our thing,\u201d Barkann stated. \u201cWhatever anybody wants to do, I feel blessed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As the name states, the mission of The Barkann Family Healing Hearts Foundation is to heal the hearts of people who have experienced hardship.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are going through a life trauma, your heart is broken. Whether you lost a spouse, lost a child, lost a house, we are just trying to heal some hearts,\u201d Barkann said. \u201c[We set out to help] people that were just overwhelmed with what was going on in their lives, and we wanted to ease the burden, even if it was just a little bit, or distract them, even a little bit, by giving them funds to purchase whatever they needed.\u201d