Today's Hidden Heroes are the members of the South End Community Association who have been working over the years, especially in the past year and a half, to improve their neighbourhood. The area is roughly defined as running south from Crace Street (behind the Salvation Army's New Hope Centre) to Chase River and east from the E & N Railway to the water.

A year and a half ago, community leaders felt that their neighbourhood had hit a new, totally unacceptable low with drug, alcohol and prostitution challenges, so they called a community meeting that attracted 500 residents and a cross section of city employees, police officers and politicians.

Then everyone rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

One of the major recommendations made by the RCMP was to realize that a clean neighbourhood is a happy neighbourhood. So with the complete support of police and city staff, clean-up projects were planned to bring a sense of neighbourhood pride and safety back into the community.

The annual litter pickup held the last Saturday in March, has always been a major community event and it will be even bigger this year, but now a monthly pick up has been added to the community schedule.

Recently, beautifully painted "art bins" have begun to sprout up around the South End. These are garbage cans paid for by sponsors and adopted by residents and businesses who want to help keep the neighbourhood clean in a fun way.

Some of the community's more recent projects are equally visible, like the "At Play" art show on the fence at Deverall Square Park.

Other projects are still on the drawing board. The community is working with Parks and Recreation to fundraise and develop the city's first "destination park" for both able-bodied children and children with physical and other challenges. This exciting attraction will bring outsiders into the area who will witness the positive community growth first hand.

Today when you drive through the South End, like most of the downtown area, you'll find a lot of recently renovated homes. This is an area with awesome potential and the leaders in the community are working hard to see that potential realized. There's a new sense of community pride, which, along with an injection of new home owners and volunteers, is changing the face of and the energy level in the South End.

A major lesson in the Our Hidden Heroes school program teaches kids that small things can make a big difference. We are beginning to see the results of those small things in the South End Community thanks to board president, Douglas Hardie, and members Sydney Robertson, Gordon Fuller, Eldeen Cornel, Gord Fuller,Larry Gambone, Peter Presotto, Charles Torjhelm, and Barbara Densmore; Hidden Heroes all.