Volunteers carry fans to a van at Johnson County Senior Services to be delivered to seniors around the county in July 2023. DAILY JOURNAL FILE PHOTO
As dangerous heat settled in on central Indiana this week, a cool idea was forming.
Leaders with the Duke Energy Foundation reached out to Johnson County Senior Services, the county’s foremost agency focused on the needs of older adults. The foundation had money available in its mission to fund efforts helping the community.
Would Johnson County Senior Services be able to use it to aid seniors impacted by the heat, foundation officials asked.
The answer was unequivocally “yes.”
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to have a partner who understands the needs that seniors have. So many of those seniors may not have air conditioning, or they do but they cannot afford an energy bill,” said Kimberly Smith, executive director of the senior services agency. “The heat is so detrimental to them.”
Working together, Johnson County Senior Services was able to buy 83 box fans from a local Lowe’s store, as well as 40 cases of bottled water to distribute to seniors in need. The effort came together in a matter of days, moving quickly from the proposal from Duke Energy to a grant application to approval. By Tuesday afternoon, fans were already going out to the most vulnerable seniors in the county.
With older adults the most at-risk during a heat wave, the chance to provide residents in need with a form of relief was a responsibility the foundation could not pass up, said Jean Renk, government and community relations manager for Duke Energy.
“Indiana summers can be extremely hot, and some of the warmest days of the year are still ahead. Support for nonprofits like Johnson County Senior Services, which have a mission to help our most vulnerable, can make a difference in avoiding heat-related illnesses and provide our senior and low-income customers with some comfort when temperatures rise,” she said.
For most people, the oppressive heat of Indiana summers is an uncomfortable inconvenience. But seniors are more vulnerable to extreme heat. They’re more susceptible to heat exhaustion, as their bodies are not able to adjust to sudden changes in the temperature. Those taking certain medications or that are on oxygen are also at a higher risk in the heat.
Factor in that many older adults living in the county do not have air conditioning in their homes, and it all adds up to a potential crisis when a heat wave hits, Smith said.
“They’re more prone to heat-related health problems, especially with sudden changes in temperature, it’s really just such a risk for them,” she said.
When weather forecasts called for temperatures hovering in the high 80s and low 90s at the end of last week, Renk reached out to Smith about providing some help through the Duke Energy Foundation. The foundation is the philanthropic branch of the company that provides more than $2 million in charitable grants each year in the communities where Duke Energy operates.
Renk and the foundation have worked closely with Johnson County Senior Services in the past, including providing a grant to buy 96 fans during the summer of 2023.
She saw the need once again and approached Smith about writing a quick grant proposal. Smith readily accepted, submitting her proposal for a $2,500 grant on Sunday evening.
By Sunday night, it had been approved.
Smith moved quickly to purchase fans and water for seniors the next day.
“I went to Lowe’s on Monday and they could pull everything for me. (Tuesday) we had volunteers pick up all of the fans and the water bottles and bring them here,” she said. “Every since, we’ve been pushing them out all over the county.”
Smith has summoned a team of volunteers to help distribute the fans and water to seniors living in Section 8 housing and other areas who are in need.
“It’s a huge blessing that Duke Energy is willing to come up alongside us and say that these seniors are a priority in our county, and this is one way they can help,” Smith said.
