102 Year Old Signs Up Online for Heart to Home Meals
As a franchise involved in the frozen meals delivery service, Heart to Home Meals, is constantly getting phone calls and online orders. For the franchisee, most of the time it is a matter of sorting out the request and making sure the order is delivered at the desired time.
But a couple of months ago the franchise in Calgary got an order that took everyone by surprise. The request came from Erma Joy Brown who is getting ready to celebrate her 103rd birthday!
The collective view is that seniors shy away from new technology but in this case, we had a centenarian living in rural Alberta using her laptop to make the order. A woman who had retired before the introduction of the personal computer was using it as if she was a millennial.
Erma moved to Black Diamond, south of Calgary, with her family as a 15-year-old in 1929. The first winter there, the family lived in a tent. One weather website describes the winters in Black Diamond as “long, freezing, and dry” with the average temperature around minus 6.5ºC.
For longer than anyone can remember, Erma has been involved in the community (including 20 years as the town’s secretary treasurer) helping it grow from a village to a town.
According to Heart to Home Meals franchise owner in Calgary, Tracy Brunt, Erma is not showing signs of slowing down:
“She is a remarkable woman, who has seen so much change in her lifetime. She is very passionate about her community and very proud that she has been part of the growth of the town.”
Tracy began operating Heart to Home Meals in the Calgary area just over a year ago. The previous summer she had lost her job as a manager at a recruitment firm in the city, as falling oil prices began to take their toll on businesses across the province.
For Tracy, who’d been heavily invested in her former job, it was important to make the right career move: “I looked long and hard to find an opportunity that would offer me a job that I could care about and was in an area where there’s a great need. Heart to Home Meals has been better than I ever expected.”
While not every Canadian will reach the century mark, more and more are living longer. By 2031, Statistics Canada expects one in four Canadians will be aged 65 years or older. The demographic changes offer great opportunities for companies, like Heart to Home Meals, who cater to seniors.
And as Canada celebrates its 150th birthday on July 1st, the town of Black Diamond will have special ceremony for residents and visitors to come together at the newly-named Erma Joy Brown Park. A fitting tribute to someone who has meant so much to Black Diamond.