One Monday, Lourelle and Daige arrived at their New Jersey daycare, ready to welcome more than 100 children, but the building wasn’t heating up the way it should …
Most of Daige and Lourelle’s days at a New Jersey daycare were filled with the laughter and curiosity of children. Most days offered a smile.
A recent Monday was not one of those days.
As the staff arrived at the daycare and began preparing for the children’s arrival, they turned on the heat. But part of the building didnt warm up. Because it’s a daycare, the temperature must be kept at 68 degrees for the children’s safety and comfort.
Lourelle, who owns and operates the daycare, let parents know there was an issue with the heating and that children in the affected area would be moved to other heated spaces temporarily until the furnace could be repaired. It wasn’t ideal, but it would allow the children to attend daycare while not forcing their parents to find last-minute childcare.
“I just thought that the system was failing,” Lourelle said. “Luckily, we have extra room, so we could move the classrooms to other rooms. It does disrupt the children’s routines and puts extra pressure on the teachers.”
Lourelle contacted a contractor to come out and look at the HVAC system so it could be repaired. However, to the staff’s surprise and dismay, the contractor told them the daycare’s HVAC system had been the target of a scrapper.
“(The contractor) told us, ‘actually, it’s gone,’” she said. “That’s when we went and checked our camera system and saw him.”
She added that the scrapper seemed to be well acquainted with the daycare’s hours and where to park his truck to hide it from someone who might notice something amiss as they passed by.
“The back (of the daycare) is entirely fenced in, and you can’t see anything unless you get out of your vehicle and go through the gate,” Lourelle said. “He went back and chose a condenser he could pick up by himself and just cut all the lines.”
In sawing loose the valuable parts of the system to sell, he had made it completely inoperable. It was September, and Lourelle would have to dip into the daycare’s emergency fund to make the repair. There was no way they could go very long without a repair, especially since winter is just around the corner.
“He hit a church in Franklinville as well,” Lourelle said.
Daige, Lourelle and the staff turned to their local community Facebook page, looking for help identifying the scrapper. They found help, but of a completely different kind.
Frank Siderio Jr., a South Jersey Energy Service Plus by HomeServe field service manager, saw the daycare’s post, and, while he couldn’t put a name to the scrapper’s face, he thought he could help the daycare with their HVAC problem.
“I felt that we had to do something to help them out,” Frank said.
Frank’s leadership was onboard to donate the labor needed to install a new system – the scrapper had left the old one unrepairable.
However, HVAC systems are one of the most expensive whole home systems for a reason. He reached out to supplier Peirce-Phelps and told them about the daycare’s plight. The company agreed to discount a mini-split unit down to $1,800, and Frank contacted the HomeServe Cares Foundation to cover the cost of the equipment.
“I had reached out to a few vendors and told them the story, and Peirce-Phelps came to the rescue with a great mini split system for a fantastic price,” Frank said. “My next call was to the HomeServe Cares team, who I have worked with in the past, and, within minutes, we had everything approved and were able to move forward with getting these kids air conditioning and heat again.”
Daige and Lourelle couldn’t believe it at first.
“When Frank called, we thought it was a scam,” Daige said. “We didn’t believe it at first, but he explained everything and we were so grateful and happy. That kind of thing just doesn’t happen.”
“It was almost surreal,” Lourelle said. “It didn’t sink in at first that someone wanted to do this for us. It was actually happening. It’s just not that kind of world. We thought no one is going to call and offer help, but he is a legit person with a good heart.”
Frank and the South Jersey Energy Service Plus team came in, communicated well, showed up on time, explained the repair in an easily understandable way and left the work area tidy. Most importantly, the entire building had heat at no cost to the daycare.
“It was really astonishing that someone would donate their time and hard work to help,” Lourelle said.
Search