Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Hughes.
Hi Stephen, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
In Jan 2021, our oldest son, Lucas was murdered in Cedar City, UT. We were surounded and supported by so many, from our neighborhood, church, friends near and far, the pickleball community all stepped up and helped us through those first day, weeks and months. From that experience, we learned of many other families that had lost someone too soon and Heavenly Hearts was born. Our mission is to love and support families that loose someone too soon, maybe a child or a parent with kids at home still. We have a list of items that helped us so much during that initial shock and grief, we send or deliver these items to the families, then if they will let us, we sit with them and talk, answer questions, share our experiences, what to expect and helpful things. We send frozen meal from Beehive meals to all the families we visit as well, along with gift cards for pizza and door dash, We find that visiting and supporting these families is not only helpful for them, but us and our healing as well.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has been a guided road I would say. Things have fallen into place, some take time, but nothing was forced. Fundraising is a difficult thing for a nonprofit as we want to support all we can but are limited by what we have available.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I work for the Highway Patrol and have for 22 years. I have been a part of many in-depth investigations involving death and supporting those families in a capacity to help where I could on the investigation side. I work for the state of AZ and patrol an area known as the Virgin River Gorge and have been there for 21 years. From writing tickets for traffic violations, to arresting criminals, investigating crashes, participating in community events, I have done and seen a lot of what the freeway life has to offer. I am proud of the work I am doing and the example I am to those around me, the unknown lives saved by contacting or just being present to drivers on the interstate, it makes a difference. I feel I am a fair trooper and am courteous and fair to all that I come into contact with.
Any big plans?
Future for Heavenly Hearts is currently to maintain what we are doing, its working and its something I can still do while having a full time job. We do a big fundraiser every year with a pickleball tournament that has been keeping us going so far. No big changes.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.theheavenlyhearts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theheavenlyhearts
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1B9WWpqVWG/
