NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — As the calendar turns to the summer months, the Hutchinson Salvation Army is partnering with a local business again.
"Westlake Ace Hardware is doing a fan drive for us," Major Paul James said Thursday. "They're rounding up at the register. We depend on their support and our community support to help those families that don't have AC or just to help reduce their utility costs to circulate air in the home. It does make a huge difference to just have that extra fan to blow things around."
The Salvation Army in Hutchinson typically hands out a little over 300 fans each year.
"Last year we had to reduce the number," James said. "Usually it would, if you have a larger family, then we would give a couple fans out or three, depending on how large that family might be. Last year we were only able to do one fan per family. As you know, the cost of fans have gone up a great deal. Your donations don't quite stretch as far as they used to. We definitely need your support in doing that as well."
Summertime is the time when there is not a state program like there is in the winter. In the winter, there is the program that doesn't allow people to have their utilities shut off because of the cold, but that's not the same way in the spring and summer, so people are asking for additional utility assistance.
"Sometimes we get families in that just have a really huge electric bill, whether that's at the beginning of the summer, the end of the summer," James said. "Some go without AC altogether just for that purpose, just to save money. We've already had 40 families that have come in for assistance this month. We anticipate that'll probably be closer to 50 by the end of tomorrow."
That need is double what they were used to this time of the year during COVID. If you would like to give, you can drop a check by their offices at 700 North Walnut, or round up your purchase at Westlake ACE Hardware in Hutchinson.
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