Hometown Hero: Randy Hart shows a heart for helping strangers

Bluefield, WV - (WVVA-TV) - Personal loss prompts a Bluefield, West Virginia resident to step up and help parents pay for some of the expenses they incur caring for a seriously ill child.  Randy Hart has been quietly helping strangers for several years by hosting fundraisers at his home, “In 2007, I lost a daughter. I wanted to do and I wanted to do that something that would make her proud and something to carry on her name, her memory and I thought what better way to do that then help kids with serious illness, terminal illness, you know because there’s this  is just a drop in the bucket as to what people need.”, Hart said about his motivation to help.

He holds simple fundraisers that involve hot dog and baked goods.  It was just such a fundraiser that helped Lynne Russo, whose daughter Camden, requires treatment at the children’s hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, “I didn’t know him at all before I came up here to help with that bake sale. He came out of his pocket for every bit of that food, except for what was donated, anything that was anything that was left over he came out of his pocket. He didn’t even take that back. Every dime went to us, every dime. And it has been that way every other bake sale.”, said Russo.  She says that fundraiser put $3,000 towards the family’s expenses to take Camden for her treatments, “We have like hotels stays, unbelievable hospital bills, co-pays at every visit for her, like I said we have to travel all the way to Cincinnati.”, adding the money relieved a lot of stress for her and her husband, who were stretching every cent, “That got us through that got us through six or eight months of trips.” Russo said with a tear in her eye.

Russo was moved enough to join Hart’s small but growing team of volunteers.  They help pull off each fundraiser, dedicated to a specific child, without the benefit of an advertising campaign.  It’s solely word-of-mouth.  Hart says everyone who helps, from his volunteers to the donors buying baked good and hot dogs, relates to where the money goes and what it’s used for, “When you have a sick kid, the least thing you need to worry about is gas money, food, things to, you know, your main concern needs to be with your child.” Hart said, who adds he doesn’t do this alone, “It’s not only me, but I mean we’re a family that, you know that does this and if anything I want get out of this is I want my kids to see as as I was wrong, as I was growing up, as I was raise, always try to help other people.” said Hart.  It’s this effort that helps make Randy Hart a Hometown Hero.

He says his team’s next fundraiser is a two-day event to help the parents of a 3-year-old girl being treated for a birth defect in her brain that triggers seizures.  Like all of these private fundraising events, the proceeds will help her parents pay for things that aren’t usually covered by insurance.  Hart says it will be held at his home at 4417 East Cumberland Road, Bluefield, West Virginia, beginning at 10:00 a.m. on November 4 & 5, 2022.

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