Neon hearts glow in support of front-line workers,
Health-care workers saluted with neon signs from local LED firm
“It was about May at that point, and we were out going for nightly walks in the neighbourhood, Leslieville and Riverdale,” Jeffrey Moss recalls.
“A lot of houses had ‘Thank you, health-care workers,’ ‘Thank you front-line workers’ signs in the windows, on the front lawns, and people were banging pots and pans nightly. It was a community kind of coming together, rallying behind health-care workers.
“So we thought, wouldn’t it be nice to do a neon heart that you would put in your window as a display of support?”
Moss, the owner of Moss LED, decided to pivot the focus of his lighting company from live entertainment to neon signs when the entertainment industry shut down at the beginning of the pandemic.
After the summer, the film and television industry picked up, so Moss LED “found some financial footing,” and began donating some of its earnings to the Michael Garron Hospital Foundation, Moss says.
It has contributed $5 for every light sold since December, for a total of $6,200 raised so far, Moss says.
The lights’ prices range from $90 to $100.
“We thought we should give back to the community,” he says. “And what a better way to do that than to be donating money to our local hospital?”
Moss LED is also employing two people from the live-entertainment industry and Moss’s brother, a pilot.
“A lot of people are out of work, and those jobs are not coming back in a hurry — travel and tourism, live entertainment — it’s just not it’s not going to happen,” he says.
“So whatever we can do as a community to keep people … with some work, I think is a really good thing to be doing.”
The past two weeks have been busy, with about 50 new orders each day, according to tech Corey Stewart. He says the wooden hearts are practically handmade to order.
Someone sands the wood, another glues a magnet on and the LED light is installed.
Then, the hearts are laser engraved, each with its order number, “made in Canada” and the Moss LED logo, Stewart says, although some people make custom engraving requests.
As the company makes sales across Canada, Moss said he’s open to suggestions of other hospitals to help.
He added that he hopes when people see the neon hearts in their neighbourhoods, they think of the workers making them and those on the front lines.