By Josh P. Crotzer
Member Services Coordinator
Frances Sanders isn’t able to get out and about like she used to. But her story is making rounds in Washington, D.C.
Sanders, a long-time Broad River member who lives alone on a widow’s pension check, is featured in a YouTube video that is being shown to Congressmen, federal commissions and other seats of power. The video, produced by the Electric Cooperative of South Carolina, uses Sanders’ circumstances and that of other members around the state to show the debilitating costs of energy and weatherization.
While two other cooperative homes are featured on in the video, Sanders seems to leap from the screen and tug at hearts. That’s exactly what she did when the video was shown to Mike Davis of Davis Services, Inc. Broad River had enlisted the Spartanburg-based heating/air contractor to help them with a program to weatherize select homes on their system. Sanders’ home had been chosen and was about to have her home insulated, caulked and sealed courtesy of Central Electric Cooperative’s REEP 2 program.
However, when Davis saw the video he wanted to do more.
“When you see someone like her, you want to help,” said Davis. “Fortunately, we could.”
Davis enlisted Lennox, a name brand provider of HVAC products, to Sanders’ 16-year old unit at a deeply discounted price of $1,000. The East Gaffney Baptist Church Girl Ambassadors paid for the unit and Davis Services installed it for free. So by March, after two months of sustained below-average temperatures, Sanders had many of the leaks in her 45-year old home sealed, new insulation, new ductwork, and a new HVAC unit.
According to Jay Meadows, the supervising technician for Davis Services, Sanders could see an average of $100 of savings per month. That’s a fortune to a woman who in the video said she was left with $2 after that month’s bills were paid.
“I bless everyone that was involved,” said a weeping Sanders when told of the new unit. “Ya’ll don’t know how much this means.”
Meadows, who has developed a close friendship with Sanders since the work began, is reaping a portion of good deeds sown.
“I got mine,” Meadows joked. “She gave me a jar of her chow-chow.”
Sanders quickly reminded Meadows that what’s contained in those jars is a secret recipe.
Just what this story needed, a little mystery. It already had a happy ending.
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