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Linda Harkcom | For The Mt. Pleasant Journal

Donahue's Inc. employees Greg Shaulis of Acme (left) and Jim Zummo of Jeannette perform a final check on the Amana gas furnace the company along donated in conjunction with GBG, Inc. of Youngwood to Dorothy Brayo of Mt. Pleasant.

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For the past three years, two local companies have made sure that a total of six seniors in Westmoreland County have been able to stay warm throughout the winter.

Donahue's Inc. Heating and Cooling in Greensburg and GBG Inc. of Youngwood have teamed up to donate two new furnaces each year since 2010 to two needy senior citizens.

GBG Inc. provides the furnaces, and Donahue's Inc. provides the installation.

“We felt we've been blessed and we wanted to pass it on,” said Butch Donahue, president of Donahue's Inc. Heating and Cooling.

This year, one of the furnaces went to Dorothy Brayo of Mt. Pleasant.

“I appreciate it a lot. It means a lot because my furnace was starting to not work,” said Brayo, adding that she lives on a fixed income and would therefore have not been able to replace her previous furnace had it broken.

Melaney Hegyes, program director and site coordinator of Jacobs Creek Area Faith in Action (JCAFIA), said officials of Donahue's have contacted the organization each year to see if there is a Faith in Action recipient in need of a new furnace.

It was the second year a JCAFIA recipient has been chosen to receive a new furnace from the two companies.

“Without the new furnace, the recipients would not be able to heat their homes efficiently,” Hegyes said. “So many of our recipients keep the furnace turned down or off to keep the costs down. In the past, we have even had recipients who did not even have a working furnace.”

Officials of the companies installed in Brayo's home an Amana natural gas furnace which is 95 percent energy efficient and comes with a 10-year parts warranty, Donahue said.

“We realized, after the first year, that if something went wrong with the furnace, they (recipients) did not have the money to get it fixed so we included the warranty to help them if something goes wrong,” Donahue said.

Linda Harkcom is a freelance writer.

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