By Cindy Christy Fertsch
Nobody can do everything for everybody but everybody can do something for somebody,” says Bob McAllister, owner of Comfort Now. That is one of Bob’s favorite quotes by a former US president and part of his core values.
Bob McAllister, founder and owner of Comfort Now has been giving away a FREE heater to a person or family with the greatest need and most compelling story since starting his business. 2019 was the 5th year of the giveaway. In that time, they have replaced six heaters and repaired seven heaters, all free of charge. Demonstrating his keen sense of humor, Bob refers to the annual giveaway as the “Ugly Heater Contest.”
When the nominees started rolling in this year, all 400 of them, it was a hard choice. There were some truly heartbreaking stories. How could they decide who to help? Without hesitation, Bob McAllister responded, “Why can’t we help more than one family this year?” Comfort Now decided to help two families get heat for the holidays this winter season.
Comfort Now offers this giveaway to residents in their prime service areas of Cape May & Atlantic Counties. The first recipient was a single, 80 year old widow whose husband told her before he passed, not to run the heater because it was unsafe. As a result, she had been using kerosene space heaters for two years. She was nominated by her granddaughter. Others were nominated by family or friends. Four of the previous recipients were single women and all but our 80 year old widow were raising children, including a single 80 year old gentleman who was still caring for his 50 year old handicapped son. A committee of the Comfort Now staff picks the winner based on their need. This year was particularly difficult.
“We visited a number of homes to look at the heaters and boiled it down to five finalists. When I visited one of the finalists, Mary Downs of Somers Point on Dec 23rd, I could tell the heater was in decent shape and could be run safely and reliably with some minor repairs and maintenance. We got Mary’s heater in great shape the following week, ” said Bob McAllister. “That let us provide a new heater for one of the other entries, Jennifer Brady & her family in Cardiff.”
Brady was nominated by her mother. When Comfort Now inspected their heater, it was determined that it was borderline safe and making it through the winter was doubtful. So Bob gave her mother the heads up Christmas Eve morning. Then along with his children, RJ and Casey, Bob arrived at Jennifer’s home and surprised her and her family with the announcement that they would be receiving a brand new heater system- free of charge!
“It gives me a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment to form a company that can make a positive difference in the world,” reflects Bob McAllister afterwards.
