Posted 08-31-10
LAWRENCEVILLE, GA -- More than 300 youngsters turn to the Boys and Girls Club in Lawrenceville for homework help, computer lessons and to play sports.
When thieves took all of the club's central air conditioners and nine units at two other Boys and Girls Clubs, they turned to 11Alive's Help Desk.
What followed was an immediate 2-hour telethon to help raise funds to offset the cost of replacing the units and to defray the cost of installing special security systems in all 27 Metro Atlanta Boys and Girls Clubs.
Two specialized air conditioning companies, Trane and Coolray, stepped right up to provide the units and the labor to install them -- all for free.
"We watched the newscast that you did on TV. Saw it. Felt like it was a thing we needed to do to help out in our community," said Michael Hopkins of Trane.
"Basically what we had to do was coordinate installing seven cooling systems and four additional furnaces," said Jim Rutherford of Coolray. "That's quite a bit of work and normally something that would be a 5 or 6 day job for a company like ours, but we just needed to get it done quickly. We did it for the kids."
For Lawrenceville Boys and Girls Club Director Rory Johnson it all happened so fast he couldn't believe it.
"They've embraced us," Johnson said. "The community has embraced us and charity is actually love. So that's what we have -- a lot of love here in Lawrenceville."
That love is being shared with hundreds of children.
Posted By - Bill Liss
Last Updated On: 8/30/2010 9:34:20 PM
SOURCE: http://www.11alive.com/rss/rss_story.aspx?storyid=151976
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