‘God bless you’: Wichitans pick up free fans as temperatures climb

By Abby Wray

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    WICHITA, Kansas (KAKE) — The Salvation Army, Evergy, and Vornado are making sure Wichitans keep cool this summer with free fans that were given away on Tuesday.

“I’m excited to get a new fan you know,” said Schena Martiz.

Martiz is a mother of 4 kids under 5 years old. She struggles to keep her home cool in the summer. That’s why she went to the Salvation Army to pick up a new fan.

“It means everything to me because I sleep in the living room with my two babies and it gets hot in there so I’m thankful for that,” said Martiz.

She got one of 500 fans the Salvation Army was giving out Tuesday. If a person had not used the Salvation Army’s resources previously it was just a short wait and some paperwork they filled out to get their brand new fans.

“A fan doesn’t seem like a lot, but if you can keep your air conditioning set at a certain level where you’re not using all the energy, your electric bill is gonna go down,” said Jami Scott, director of social services Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army partnered with Evergy and Vornado to give out these fans.

Evergy has been a part of this for more than a decade and in that time it’s given out more than 50,000 fans.

“We just hope we’re able to provide a service to our customers to help them stay cool in the summer heat,” said Abby Hickey, Evergy.

“A fan means everything to someone in this 100 degree plus weather,” said Scott.

Gary Gimpel is 78 years old and has no air conditioning in his home.

So how does he usually stay cool?

“Cold showers, and I used to have an ice bag that I would put ice on my head…Yeah it’s pretty rough, I’m waiting for October,” said Gary Gimpel, who was getting a fan.

He was cooling off at the library when he saw a flier advertising this free fan giveaway. He has a message for the Salvation Army.

“Thank you and God bless you,” said Gimpel.

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