Helping and getting help is becoming a lot harder — and hotter — at the Greenwood headquarters of the Salvation Army.
A broken air conditioner in a series of units that were not ideal anyway means that temperatures within the building are often breaking the 100-degree mark.
“When people walk through that door and feel the heat hit them in the face, some of them will just turn right back around and leave,” said Ruthie Rogers, who has worked at the store for eight years.
Patricia Gwin said she has been coming to the Salvation Army store for years and has never seen it so hot before.
“You can’t really just come in and shop around,” Gwin said. “After being in here a while you just start sweating and it gets really uncomfortable.”
The Salvation Army in Greenwood is housed in a 12,500-square-foot warehouse-style building with no drop ceilings. Three household air conditioning units are used to cool the rest of the building.
Throughout the store, a whir of fans can be heard — near the desk, in the sorting room, on the retail floor — but it’s not enough to cool the air to a comfortable level.
Mark Jones, divisional public relations officer for Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, said that the cost to fix the air conditioner would be about $7,500.
“When something like this happens, the Salvation Army has to make a decision. Do you fix the air conditioner or do you help those in need?” Jones said. “We choose to help people in need, but (without air conditioning) our ability to provide services starts to go down.”
Capt. Aaron Gordon, the Greenwood Corps officer, said that a lot of senior citizens would come by so they would have a place to stay cool.
“They would come every day to just hang around and get out of the heat,” Gordon said. “Now it’s too hot for them to come inside. They would rather sit in their cars and use the air conditioning.”
Gordon said that the summer time is when the Salvation Army is often in the greatest need of help from donors.
He said the Salvation Army isn’t asking for extravagant air-conditioning units. He said they would just like to have enough so people that come in the door can be comfortable.
Meanwhile, employees and volunteers are being provided with water and monitored closely for any signs of heat exhaustion.
“I just have to get used to the heat,” Robinson said. “I love what I do, so I will get used to it. But some people coming in here can’t take it.”
Gordon said they considered closing the store around noon during peak temperatures, but changed their mind.
“If we close down we cut down on donations,” he said.
Volunteer Ida “Mae Mae” Keys embodies the spirit of the Salvation Army. She labors on, even though she works in the back, the hottest part of the building.
“It’s important because it helps a lot of people,” Keys said. “It’s all about helping people.”
•Contact Taylor Kuykendall at tkuykendall@gwcommonwealth.com.
