YORK, S.C. (AP) - The temperature hit 95 degrees outside the mobile home in York on the hottest day of the year Friday. Inside the metal walls, it was hotter.
“Brutal,” said Roxanne Jett, 63, disabled for 14 years after two bouts with cancer. “I was cleaning the place Friday and I almost couldn’t take it.”
Jett had moved her mobile home to Meadowbrook mobile home park in early July after the property outside the city where she had lived for decades was sold. But the air conditioning went out during the move and she had no money to repair it or replace it or even get a wall unit.
“It was just unbearable in there,” said Cathi Clement, senior property manager at Meadowbrook, which is run by Withrow Properties. “I had to do something.”
Clement called her friend - Sgt. Dale Edwards. He’s a community police officer for the York Police Department. He is the guy who coordinates Christmas gifts for poor kids, food for the needy, runs kids camps and other activities. Edwards posted the need on Facebook.
“In 15 minutes I had donations not for just one wall unit, but two,” Edwards said. “I came by here Saturday. It was smoking hot. Brutal hot. Policing is not about putting people in jail. Policing is about helping people. And the people of York, and around here, they care about each other.”
Jett saw Edwards at the door and thought the worst. Then Edwards said he was only there to check on her, and would be back with the units.
“I threw my hands up in the air. It was another miracle from the Lord,” Jett said.
Lowe’s Home Improvement of York, an employee at Lowe’s and a car dealer in western York County gave $300. But it wasn’t enough to get the units. Monday Edwards and the top cop in York, Chief Andy Robinson, delivered both units to Jett’s mobile home.
Then they installed them.
The sweat ran down their faces and into their eyes and they did not quit until the air inside was not cool - but cold.
“Every officer in this department works by the same standard - serve people,” Robinson said. “This is what police are supposed to do. Help the people of the city.”
A social worker heard about Jett’s situation over the weekend, and brought a window unit, too.
Jett was stunned that the police in York would not just find out about her situation, but immediately act on it. There is no doubt, Jett said, that God worked through the police department and the management staff at the mobile home park.
“This is a Godsend,” Jett said. “The air conditioners, and the police. I am so thankful for everyone who helped me.”
Jett put her face in the breeze of the new big wall unit in the living room. Her hair billowed back. She smiled.
Then she held out her arms and individually hugged Edwards and Robinson. She thanked them and the people who donated.
Robinson wiped the sweat from his face as he walked out and said: “Ms. Jett, it is our pleasure.”
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Information from: The Herald, https://www.heraldonline.com
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