San Antonio – With no shortage of triple-digit temperatures and the five worst weeks on record for heat-related illnesses, this summer has been brutally hot for San Antonians.
But while the message amid the heat is often “stay inside,” some homes in the city aren’t that much cooler.
On Blue Bonnet Street on the East Side, Maria Sullivan’s home was built in 1950 without central air-conditioning. One of her window units broke a few years back, she said. The one that remains in her bedroom blows air, but it “doesn’t really get cold, especially when it’s really hot.”
Sullivan says she can’t afford to fix the issue because she’s living on her husband’s pension, which covers the cost of the house and the utilities.
So she makes do with a pair of fans, one of which shuts off after about an hour.
“I adjusted, I think, with all the heat,” she said in Spanish.
Fortunately for Sullivan, organizers from WestCare Texas, a community group serving the East Side, brought her a small air conditioning unit on Thursday.
The group more often gives out fans, and organizer Rosie Baca says there are “bunches” of San Antonians living without air conditioning, often in older homes like Sullivan’s.
“Seniors, single parents. So, you know, and it’s a lot of people that maybe have a husband and wife, but they can’t afford it. Their electricity bills are too high. So they can’t -- if they do have it, they can’t really run it,” Baca said.
Baca notes that while fans aren’t the same as air conditioning, “a fan beats nothing.”
In addition to groups like WestCare that do fan giveaways, San Antonio seniors can request a box fan from “Project Cool” by calling the United Way Helpline at 211. You must be a current city resident, at least 60 years old, and show a “critical need” for a box fan to be eligible.
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