A couple of months ago, three initials took the ARMY community by storm: AHC.

The acronym stands for Army Help Centre, a team of fervent BTS fans from around the world who volunteer their time to help other ARMY, be it during rough times or to simply share their happy moments with them. Their primary goal is to let ARMY know that they never walk alone.

With speakers from different nationalities and languages joining what started as a thoughtful gesture, AHC’s future is growing by the second as a full-time project speaking one language, which is none other than spreading love and positivity. But first, let’s get to know this mission up close.

The inspiration behind AHC

It all started when Aiisha, the founder of AHC, noticed the obvious pressure ARMY face when voting for BTS on Twitter. With the iHeart awards show being one of the many award ceremonies that require a massive online voting, ARMY dedicated every bit of their time in order to finish the daily voting quota, and some of them even gave up their sleep in doing so.

ARMY’s devotion both impressed and shocked Aiisha. Since she has recently joined the fandom and the iHeart awards were her very first voting event, she wasn’t expecting her fellow ARMY to be so driven.

“I’m a people person who values social relationships, and I have found a family in this fandom that have become a valuable part of my daily life.” said Aiisha, when asked about what made her join the ARMY force “I care about each and every ARMY. We are a family and nothing can touch us if we stay united and take care of one another. I love my family.”

Aiisha’s caring for her fellow fans’ physical and mental well-being granted her a brilliant idea. On February 8, 2018, Army Help Centre was born on Twitter, thus promoting the “FamLove” under the motto “Spread love and positivity.”

Baby steps

To support her cause, Aiisha welcomed volunteers on her team. Unaware that AHC will soon take volume, she only hired 10 volunteers, each of them speaking a different language.

The more requests flooded Aiisha’s direct messages on Twitter, the more volunteers she appointed. Responsibility grew, and with that a lot of hurdles arose, eventually followed by their respective solutions.

Some of the early volunteers that took part in the project are Cai as the official first speaker of AHC, and Sude who offered her legal advice on the side.

What started as a small group soon became a massive community. On top of this community is a team of admins comprising of: Carla, Tiffany, and Deborah and together with Aiisha, they sought to further expand the goals of the project.

Carla, also referred to as Mama for being AHC’s spiritual caregiver, is the bridge that brings the AHC family together. While joining as a speaker first, it wasn’t long until Carla was appointed as main thanks to her fervent dedication to the cause. By handling the administrative aspects of this growing project, she helps maintain a fluent communication between the main members and the volunteer speakers to facilitate reaching out to the ARMY in need. Her tasks include setting schedules, making Data inventories, writing announcements, guiding new speakers, and monitoring the AHC platform, all while actively promoting AHC on Twitter.

Tiffany joined AHC as the first official psychology main three days after its creation. Her roles include but are not limited to guiding the other speakers and mains in their appointed cases, and answering their questions. She also supports her fellow members and eases their worries when they face difficult situations. She is basically the healer of AHC’s healers, as she invites them to contact her whenever they feel the need to talk or vent. Tiffany makes sure to monitor new and ongoing conversations 6 days a week, where she ensures that ARMY are receiving the proper help they’re looking for, and that the speakers in charge are not feeling overwhelmed. She also takes care of the serious cases that involve more sensitive topics such as depression, suicide, and self-harm.

Deborah was looking into joining a charity when she stumbled upon Aiisha’s post. She too started as a speaker and happily conversed with people who understood her passion about BTS. After a while, she had a vital idea for AHC which landed her a spot on the admin team. This project together with all the volunteers helped Deborah discover a whole new side of her, and had her embrace AHC as a part of her extended family despite the distance. She’s in charge of welcoming the new mains and filling them in on the project’s work flow, as well as guiding them through Tweetdeck, a platform that helps organize monitoring and counseling shifts. On top of this, she also keeps tabs on the messages and mentions that AHC receives on a daily basis.

The exponential growth of AHC

With a team of dedicated members working together, AHC welcomed an impressive range of ARMY, both seeking help and providing it. The help centre allowed the fandom to grow closer than ever, by sharing their happiness, fears and worries, not to forget the everlasting enthusiasm they have for BTS in whichever language they feel comfortable in.

The main account hosts more than 30 languages such as French, Malay, Chinese, Dutch, and Italian to name a few. Furthermore, the incredible love that AHC has received on Twitter gave birth to 12 subdivisions that would allow a direct communication with ARMY all over the world while speaking their respective language.

Currently, AHC is expanding its territory to other social media such as Facebook and Instagram, in order to reach as many ARMY as possible and allow them to reach out even if they’re not necessarily active on Twitter.

AHC Stats

As of May 3, 2018, AHC has 32.6K followers on Twitter assisted by 61 mains and 320 volunteers coming from all five continents of the world. These ARMY belong to different fields of study and work aside from psychology, such as Medicine, Business, Web Design, Engineering, and Law among recurring fields; not to mention other ARMY who share their own experiences as a mean of comfort to those who need someone they can relate to. This versatility gives AHC a distinctive mark that can break the barrier between them and ARMY that need help.

Current and future goals

If Aiisha’s vision inspired the creation of AHC, fighting the stigma against mental health pushed the concept further. A lot of countries don’t have access to mental health services, and those who do are discouraged by the judgemental criteria imposed by society.

To fix all of this, and while looking up to BTS in doing so, AHC became a unanimous voice for the sake of raising awareness about the importance of mental health, and helping those in need who don’t have access to mental care facilities and assistance.

AHC hasn’t forgotten about ARMY who don’t need to talk about their problems per se. Some of them simply require a regular dose of love and positivity. For that matter, a daily segment called AHC Quotes introduces motivational quotes on AHC social media to boost their confidence and improve their self-esteem.

Moreover, the growth of AHC has led to the process of creating a non-profit organization called Spread Love Positivity. The foundation’s goal is to support different charities all over the world, with the main focus being on charities that support mental health, and ultimately donating a share to whichever charity BTS is supporting. These donations will be made in the name of ARMY.

The unbelievable growth of AHC over the past few months wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for the hard work of all the volunteers and the continuous support from ARMY. Also, this initiative received a fair share of media exposure through major ARMY fanbases from around the world, as well as an article written by KJ103 Radio host J.J. Ryan as a highlight.

Like BTS, AHC is a family that keeps growing bigger and stronger. Welcome to your personal safe haven, where ARMY can freely speak their beautiful minds.