From 800 pounds of strawberries to three cities, the Kingston Whig-Standard takes a look at where Lionhearts started and how far we've come.

Read the full Kingston Whig-Standard feature here: The Lionhearts story: a little bit of rock ’n’ roll, a lot of giving back

Sometimes you get so busy doing the work that you don't stop to look back at how it all started.

For Lionhearts, one of those moments came recently when Maegen Kulchar of the Kingston Whig-Standard sat down with our Founder and CEO, Travis Blackmore, to tell the Lionhearts story.

And quite a story it is.

It starts more than a decade ago with Travis, a van, and 800 pounds of strawberries that were destined to go to waste.

That first rescue helped spark an idea: what if good food and other resources that businesses could no longer use could instead make their way to people and organizations that needed them?

Today, that idea has grown well beyond Kingston. Lionhearts now operates in Kingston, Ottawa and London, connecting surplus food and essential goods with organizations serving people in their communities.

But the Whig's story isn't really about how many pounds we've rescued, how many kilometres our trucks have driven or how much Lionhearts has grown.

It's about people.

People who saw a need and decided to help. Volunteers who showed up. Businesses that chose to give. Community organizations that became partners. And people whose lives have intersected with Lionhearts in ways none of us could have predicted.

As Travis told the Whig: "This is not just a Lionhearts story, it's a community story really."

We couldn't agree more.

We're grateful to Maegen and the Kingston Whig-Standard for taking the time to look back at where Lionhearts came from and introduce some of the people who have made the journey possible.

And we're even more grateful to everyone who has become part of the story along the way.

Read the full Kingston Whig-Standard feature here: The Lionhearts story: a little bit of rock ’n’ roll, a lot of giving back