Heartwarming Hearth-Warming Story

Who says there's no good news anymore.... WXYZ Channel 7 Action News in Detroit reports on a local business donating new furnaces to needy families in the area: (The embed code isn't working, but you can see the video at the WXYZ link)

Wanda Frazier has been without heat all winter.

Wanda Frazier:
I had on layers of clothes like I was gong skiing. Sometimes I’d be so cold I’d lay right on top of that space heater.

Pat Wilson’s furnace went out in October.

Pat Wilson:
We have curtains everywhere, trying to keep out the drafts.

Their old furnaces are shot and neither had the money to replace them.

Wilson: It’s been hard.

Frazier: I wore pajamas, jogging suit, 2 or 3 jogging suits, house coats, sweaters.

But thanks to Lennox Industries they won’t have to endure another cold day. The Troy company gave Wilson and Frazier a free new furnace. They are among five families to get one. Tim Palmer, the Detroit district manager for Lennox, got the idea to donate the furnaces when his heat went out this winter.

Tim Palmer/Lennox Industries:
I had no heat one night in the winter, the coldest part of the winter, and I have two small children and you really go into panic mode.

Fortunately, he was able to get his heat back on the next day. But not everyone is so lucky, especially in these tough times.

Palmer: We were able to pay for that service and get our heat back on in less than 24 hours. And there are so many people who are not able to do that.

People like Frazier and Wilson. Palmer asked Action News to help find those in need of a new furnace. Frazier, a senior citizen, is on a fixed income and has health problems. Wilson does child care. Her husband is disabled and doesn’t work.

Palmer: It really makes us feel good to help someone out there who is truly in need.”

Lennox called on several companies to install the furnaces. Pritchard Incorporated in Livonia agreed to install Pat’s for free and haul away the old one. Majestic Heating in Detroit put in Frazier’s new boiler at no charge.

Marty Gold/Majestic Heating:
I feel pretty good about that. I’m going to be flying high just thinking about this all day.

So are Frazier and Wilson.

Frazier: I would like to say thank you, and I really appreciate what you doing for me.

Wilson: “It was like wow! It was a blessing. All I could think about is we’re going to be warm, we’re going to be warm.

Along with Lennox Industries, three companies installed the furnaces for free: Williams Refrigeration and Heating in Warren, Main Heating and Cooling in Shelby Township and Circle Heating of Melvindale.