Last month, News 12 Connecticut featured a terrific segment about the impact of Oil Heat Cares on a local community. OHC and Thomaston Oil Co. of Thomaston, CT were able to help a struggling local family warm up this holiday season.

David Mathews and his wife had been without heat for two years. They couldn’t afford a new boiler because of mounting medical bills for treatment of his throat cancer.

David said he applied to 10 different programs to get help, but was repeatedly denied. For the last two years, he and his wife had to boil water to take sponge baths and used kerosene heaters to keep warm.

David was desperate and thought he had reached a dead end. But then he met Mike Pinette of Thomaston Oil.

Pinette heard about Mathews’ broken boiler and promptly contacted New Haven OESP chapter president, Dan Gentile. Dan completed the Oil Heat Cares application on David’s behalf and quickly obtained approval. The process began on a Tuesday and the team installed a new boiler by Thursday. Thank you to Oil Heat Cares for purchasing the equipment and Pinette for providing superb labor.

“It feels great to see that they are happy,” Pinette said. “It’s wonderful to know that they are going to stay in that house and they’re going to be warm this winter through the holiday season.”

“It was an emotional moment; it felt great to take the burden off their shoulders,” Gentile added. “The boiler was an early Christmas present for them, and they were very happy and emotional when they received it.

Thank you to all who support Oil Heat Cares. For more information on how to get involved, visit www.oilheatcares.com.