EnergyCare Donor Reflects

joanna may

I don’t remember exactly when I became aware of EnergyCare. But I think it was back in the early 1980s when I was working at Saint Louis University. Some of the SLU nursing students were living in The Saum on South Grand that summer and they regaled me with stories of how unbearably hot it was in their apartments, especially at night when they were trying to fall asleep.

 

Sister Pat Kelly, EnergyCare’s founder, was also living at The Saum at that time, though I’m not sure I was aware of this until I read of her untimely death while living there. So, The Saum and very warm St. Louis summer nights and Sister Pat became forever linked in my brain from that time on.

The memory of Sister Pat and warm summer nights at The Saum converged once again in my brain and tugged at my heart to respond with a donation. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I’ve been giving to EnergyCare ever since.

Things I took very much for granted – cool air in the summer and warm air in the winter – were not everyone’s good fortune. Many elderly poor who lived in some of the larger, older homes in St. Louis had no AC in the summer and drafty windows in the winter. I began giving regularly to EnergyCare, starting with an amount that was the approximate equivalent of my budget-billed cooling bill.


Fast Forward to today. The stories I continue to read in EnergyCare’s quarterly newsletters are so heartwarming. The elderly poor who receive a window AC unit in the summer or a space heater or blankets in the winter or who have their home weatherized prior to the start of the cold weather are so appreciative of these improvements to their daily life that I feel they have helped me – to appreciate the everyday blessings I can easily take for granted.

 

I am so grateful to everyone at EnergyCare for the wonderful work they continue to do, year in and year out, and for using my donations to enable their life-saving mission – “Saving Lives by Degrees.” It’s a Win-Win!

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We install home weatherization materials, setup portable heaters and electric blankets, or simply give out standard blankets for immediate warmth. For the heat we install window air conditioners.

Become a Volunteer

Volunteers can help with weatherization of our client homes, preparation of Weatherization kits and direct mailer and lead Weatherization groups. 

tree

Start Donating

We install home weatherization materials, setup portable heaters and electric blankets, or simply give out standard blankets for immediate warmth. For the heat we install window air conditioners.