New Furnace for Christmas

By Karen Best Wright, www.RaisingYourGrandchildren.com

I was reading a news release today about a 73 year old widow who is raising 5 grandchildren on her $800/month social security check. I hope she has applied for TANF or any other benefits she is entitled to. I hope that is really not all she has.

Anyway the point of this post is about how she thought she was going to have no Christmas on account that her old furnace had finally died, and it gets cold in Utah, way too cold to deal with a broken furance. She called to have the furance repaired, but it was too old and had too many problems for a repair. It needed to be replaced. There went any possibility of Christmas for the children.

Now, the story is not over. The heating and plumbing company she hired knew her dire situation, so they decided to donate the new furnace free of charge, installation and all. Now there was a small catch. They made sure there was media at the house when they presented the new furnace, PR. Now, one might feel a bit cynical about giving a Christmas present and then receiving nice publicity about it. But you know what? I don't really care. I think it is really nice that this grandmother and grandchildren got a new furnace for Christmas, and the little money they might have saved for Christmas might actually go for something a bit more fun than a furnace, but probably not as needed, br-r-r-r-r-r.

To everyone, have a very nice, warm, cozy Christmas this year, no matter how many gifts are under the tree.

Karen Wright
A grandmother in love with her grandchildren

Comments

[Susan Adcox]

I have no problem with the company getting some publicity for doing the right thing. At least they did the right thing. With today's economic climate, companies need every advantage to survive, and some positive publicity might make the difference. If it had been an individual making the donation, it would have been different.

[Jean]

How awesome is that. We are in the same boat with my two back surgeries and all we have is wood heat. I would call the news media myself in this case. What a blessing and I hope she does contact TANF.