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Aldergrove pensioner ‘Feels the Love’

Lennox and Gandy Installations provide free furnace to senior who is battling lung cancer
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SUBMITTED: The Lennox/Gandy Installations team provided a new furnace at no charge for Aldergrove pensioner “Sam” on Saturday.

An Aldergrove senior citizen who has been relying on expensive space heaters in his home because his natural gas furnace packed it in a few years ago can now enjoy the comfort and savings of a new high-efficiency gas furnace.

And it all came free of charge thanks to a gift from the Lennox company’s “Feel the Love” program. Under this program Lennox provides the brand new high-efficiency furnaces and participating dealers across the continent donate the installation materials and labour, all free of charge to deserving nominees.

This is the first time Langley-based Gandy Installations has had a nominee accepted by the Lennox Feel the Love committee, and it happened to be an Aldergrove senior citizen with serious medical issues who was picked.

“There are only four nominees accepted in B.C. by Lennox team, which goes through the criteria to get the right people to receive this free service,” said Shannon Gandy, marketing director of Gandy Installations in Langley.

“We (at Gandy) don’t choose the recipient but we nominated Sam because he is quite sick and had been using electric space heaters since his furnace broke down a couple years ago. It was the suggestion of a pastor from Church in the Valley who connected with me, and so we both met with Sam, and I saw his situation — elderly and on his own and financially in a tough spot — so I nominated him for the Feel the Love program.”

“Sam” is a long-time friendly face in the town but he’s faced serious challenges as he has been undergoing chemotherapy and treatment for lung cancer, and has no funds left over to install a new furnace.

His older house is also in need of major repairs, and the Church in the Valley has been considering making Sam’s house one of their annual “Extreme Home Repairs” under their Acts of Kindness program.

Sam was having a good day on Saturday, however, when The Aldergrove Star stopped by his home to see how the Feel the Love furnace installation was progressing.

He cheerily expressed his thanks to the Lennox and Gandy team for the work they were doing that morning to make his home more comfortable for the upcoming winter weather, he closely followed the details of operating the new furnace and happily posed for a photo with the Gandy work crew.

The value of the work was about $4,200, and Sam will also now save on his heating bills as the furnace is high-efficiency, 95 per cent, compared to operating the expensive electric space heaters.

Gandy Installations is a family-operated business started by Charlie Gandy 60 years ago. Charlie’s son Chuck is the current owner-operator, and his grandson Taylor is the general manager. Taylor, accompanied by his wife Shannon and their two daughters, also oversaw the installation on Saturday.

“It was exciting being part of this great initiative,” said Shannon.

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