A box fan won’t solve all of Marianna Hubbard’s problems, but it will stop the bleeding, she hopes.
It’s already been a tough summer for Hubbard, 50. In April, the air-conditioning unit at the East Columbus home she shares with her daughter and three granddaughters — ages 9, 8 and 5 — quit working. She’s been out of work since June, when the company she works for, Johnson Tombigbee Furniture Manufacturing, shut down operations for the month of July.
With the arrival of a heat wave that is expected to extend into next week — temperatures in the mid-to-high 90s, with heat indices ranging from 103 to 109 degrees — Hubbard was back at Helping Hands Ministries in Columbus on Monday, hoping to secure another fan.
Hubbard was able to get the first fan from Helping Hands, which operates a fan drive each summer, shortly after her air-conditioning system quit working.
A second fan will allow her to cool two bedrooms.
“My 9-year-old grandbaby has nose bleeds when it gets hot, so we really need a fan to keep her from having those nosebleeds,” Hubbard said. “Getting a second fan will at least be able to have fans in two bedrooms. During the day we can move them around to wherever we are in the house.”
Providing fans for people like Hubbard has been part of Helping Hands’ program for years now, said director Nancy Guerry.
“I think this is the 16th year we’ve been giving away fans,” Guerry said. “We got a late start this year because of the COVID-19 (virus). We normally start the drive in April or May, but we didn’t get started until June this year.”
Guerry said requests for fans can extend even until November or December, but the bulk of requests come during the summer.
“We usually give out about a dozen fans a week,” she said. “But I expect we’ll see a lot more this week with this hot weather we’re having.”
Guerry said that in past years, more people are inclined to donate fans. But this year has been different.
“Again, because of the virus, a lot more people are donating money rather than going out and buying a fan and dropping it off,” she said. “That’s fine with us. Usually what we do is when we get enough money we’ll order 50 fans at a time. We work with Military Hardware because they give us a good deal on the fans. Plus, they’ll deliver them. It usually only takes a few days for them to deliver an order.”
The fans run $18 when ordered through Military Hardware.
“We had an order come in today (Monday) and had another order delivered the week before,” Guerry said. “Right now, we have about 30 fans here that we can give out, but we do have money available for another order.”
Those wishing to donate fans can drop them off at Helping Hands during normal business hours at its office at 223 22nd St. N. Those wishing to donate money for the fan drive should send the check to Helping Hands Ministries, P.O. Box 1241, Columbus, MS, 39703.
Guerry said donors should write “fan drive” in the check memo so the money can be used specifically for that purpose.
Hubbard, who has been employed at JTB for 25 years, hopes to learn whether she’ll be called back to her job on Aug. 3. In the meantime, she’ll rely on those two fans to keep her house tolerable.
“Even with the fans, it’s still probably 90 degrees in the house,” Hubbard said. “It’s not easy. We’re just doing the best we can right now.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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