Hatboro Residents Have H.E.A.R.T.

When Michael Ostrander heard firsthand about the devastation that emergency service personnel endured in the Sept. 11 aftermath, he was inspired to share his gift. Since then, he’s traveled to New Orleans and Haiti as part of relief efforts through nonprofit group H.E.A.R.T 911.

Ostrander, his son Michael II, 16, along with three other Hatboro residents and several people from Upper Moreland will share their diversified specialties this week with Haitians. The team departed today for a week-long trip to Haiti. The group will be finishing housing for the families of earthquake victims and building a health clinic to address the large amputee population at a Haiti orphanage.

“They’re trying to teach the kids there and the adults there to be self-sufficient,” said Ostrander, who owns a heating and air-conditioning company, as well as a construction company. “We all have somewhat of a construction background.”

His son Mike, a Hatboro-Horsham High School junior and junior firefighter with Enterprise Fire Co., said he’s always looking for an opportunity to assist people – and spend time with his dad.

“Ever since I was little, he was always building stuff and I always wanted to help,” said the younger Ostrander, who aspires to work in the police/criminal justice field.

The senior Ostrander, whose wife Aleta serves on borough council, will be joined by friend and fellow volunteer Steve Guenst, whose wife Nancy also is a councilwoman.

“That’s a week off in the islands,” Steve Guenst said of the anticipated 95-degree days and 75-degree nights. Plus, he said, helping people, “makes you feel good.”