Army veteran George is no stranger to heat.
During his military tours in the Middle East, he worked and lived with desert sun shining down and reflecting upward off the sand. By desert standards, 114 degrees of dry heat isn’t anything to write home about. And by Army standards, George isn’t one to complain – but he’s stateside now, and his son, who is 8, lives with him.
Their apartment, which has one window air conditioner but no central air, is sometimes warm to the point of extreme discomfort, particularly with this summer’s heat wave, which has melted roads around the world.
“This is going to change the community, what you’re doing here, Crisis and Electrolux.”
~ George (second from left), who received an air conditioner, donated by Electrolux, through Crisis Assistance Ministry’s Furniture & Appliance Store.
Inside the two-story townhome he rents, George says, it can get up to the low 90s and it can remain that way into the night.
The desert heat is not the ideal existence for everyone, but “it is what it is,” he says. Still, sitting in his own home under the blanket of 98 degrees (plus humidity) is not easy, he concedes.
“It’s hot,” he says. “It’s very hot in Charlotte this year.”
Military disability doesn’t stretch much beyond the basics when you’re raising a school-age child in Charlotte. An additional air conditioner just wasn’t in the budget.
But George found help came through Crisis Assistance Ministry, which recently received a gift of 750 Frigidaire air conditioners from Electrolux Charlotte. On a sweltering July morning, he took home a brand new unit to supplement the one he already had. Finally, some welcome relief during a summer that shows little sign of abating.
Before taking his new air conditioner home, George talked with Crisis Assistance Ministry about the heat, the effects he has seen, and his decision to reach out to the agency.
“We’re going to get a nice cool breeze coming in,” he says, “and that’s definitely always a plus.
“This is going to change the community, what they’re doing here, Crisis and Electrolux,” George says. “You guys are really helping the city of Charlotte, and I know everyone, not just me, appreciates it.”