This Holiday season, thanks to the hard work and dedication of the entire Haller Team, we were able to continue our Mission of Enriching Lives by giving the Gift of Heat to yet another deserving family. In its fourth year since inception, the Gift of Heat program is our way of working with our customers and communities to identify families in need of a replacement heating system and a little help from a friend. We asked, and you responded. Every year the list gets longer and, with more than 150 nominations submitted, it was a real challenge to pick just one deserving family.
After many stories and even a few tears, it just made sense that this year’s’ recipients, Corey and Nikki Fulbright, along with their five beautiful daughters, were the right choice. New to the area, Corey and Nikki moved their family from their home state of Florida to Central PA about 1-½ years ago. “We certainly weren’t accustomed to this kind of cold when we first got here,” says Corey. Fast forward to the summer of 2018, and the family learned there was a crack in the boiler. Since purchasing a replacement just wasn’t feasible, not only were they facing the potential for no heat once winter arrived but their hot water was affected too. “It just constantly leaked and wasted so much water, we had to turn it off”, Corey explained. “We just turn it on long enough for everyone to grab a shower and then back off again. Otherwise, it floods the basement.” When the cold set in, their issues only seemed to get worse; they began sleeping in the living room and using space heaters for warmth.
Fortunately, their situation didn’t go unnoticed by their neighbor Iris and her son Tom. “I saw the ad asking for nominations in the paper and told Tom, we have to nominate them”, explained Iris. “They are such a nice young family. My husband is disabled and Nikki and Corey try to help whenever they can with taking him to the VA or helping with yard work. Even with their busy life, they make time for us. If anyone deserves help, it’s them.” Tom agreed and quickly nominated Corey and Nikki for the Gift of Heat, just in time for the Holidays.
We surprised the Fulbrights with the news of their new heating system days before Christmas. With tears in their eyes and smiles on their faces you could tell that a giant weight was lifted off their shoulders. We are happy to say that our team had their new boiler up and running by mid-January. All of this wouldn’t be possible without the effort, hard work and support of the Haller team, our partners and vendors who help us to enrich the lives of our community every day – Thank you!