A Brooklyn Park woman who used space heaters for warmth this winter now has a more reliable and safer method to heat her home, thanks to a county nonprofit.
Rebuilding Together, which helps low-income homeowners through home rehabilitation and repairs, secured a Davidsonville heating and air conditioning company to renovate the woman’s heater in about a week, Executive Director Barbara Cupp said.
The 59-year-old woman, whom Cupp declined to identify to protect her privacy, lives alone on Social Security payments.
“She had no heat and no way of heating her house. Her electric bills were a strain, as she was running those space heaters, which are fire hazards,” Cupp said.
The recipient was not prepared for Bay Breeze Heating and Cooling to complete the work in a day, Cupp said.
“I believe the words she used were ‘a blessing,’” she said. “A great many of our clients have nowhere else to go and can’t do it themselves. It’s overwhelming and a blessing.”
It’s work that Bay Breeze owner Michael Johnson was only too happy to do when Rebuilding Together contacted him, he said. His company has worked with Rebuilding Together for about two years.
“It’s a nice feeling to be able to do that. It took me about seven hours to do the job. She had been all winter without heat,” Johnson said. “She couldn’t thank me enough.”
Since its inception in 1991, Rebuilding Together, formerly Christmas in April, has helped 2,300 people with $8.9 million worth of repair work, Cupp said. For every dollar donated, the nonprofit is able to get $4 worth of repairs completed, thanks to the companies that partner with it, she said.
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