What a horrible time winter season can be!
It’s even worse when an old heater conks out because it can no longer handle the freezing cold weather.
That’s what happened to a couple, Stacy and Josh Lemonds, who has been living in a house built in 1945.
Over the years, they have had had several problems with this house when it came to the power but it’s really bad timing for the heater to be breaking down during the middle of winter.
But the Lemonds don’t have any regular work so they can’t pay for repairs.
They prayed for a miracle.
They also asked for help from their local church group and wondered if someone would be kind enough to check on their heater.
A man whom they barely knew responded.
Joshua Matthews, who served two tours in Afghanistan, was apprenticing as an electrician and told the Lemonds that he might able to help them out.
Matthews and the Lemonds have, in fact, met a couple of weeks before.
The Lemonds actually took some meals for Matthews from the church one time because he couldn’t attend services as his wife was ill.
But, until this day, they haven’t really established a real friendship and didn’t know each other too well.
At the Lemonds’ home, Matthews assessed the problem.
He realized it was going to take a few days to fix everything since the electrician wanted to be sure that the house was safe from any fire hazards and electrical problems.
Matthews even brought in a crew from the company he worked for, Dane Electric.
The man won’t give up on fixing the heater and the couple’s electrical system because he realized it has not been up to code for a long time.
So, the Lemonds had to stay at a hotel while Matthews and his crew fixed their house. People from the couple’s church group paid for their hotel stay.
But there was still one problem.
After all the hard work Matthews and his crew had done, the Lemonds still won’t be able to pay for the work.
Fortunately, Matthews and his company decided that this was a pro bono project and the couple couldn’t be more grateful for the kind gesture.
A couple of days later, however, the Lemonds called up Matthews to ask him to come by the house again.
They said that he might have to reinspect their heater since they think something is still wrong with their house’s electrical wiring.
When Matthews got there, he did not expect the $400 that Stacy handed to him. The Lemonds really didn’t require another inspection.
They just wanted to lure Matthews to give him the Pay It 4Ward award, which was sponsored by the First Fidelity Bank.
The Lemonds had been trying to think of a way to reciprocate the kind gesture from Matthews and Dane Electric when they found out about the bank’s initiative.
The couple believes that the electrician and his crew truly deserve the reward.
