Prayers & Partnerships: How Comfort Wave Helped A Family In Crisis

This time of year in Oklahoma, it can be tricky to keep our homes at a comfortable temperature. You may literally have to run your air conditioning unit all day and your heating unit all night. When units break down and have to be replaced, it could mean replacing the air conditioning unit as well as the furnace, which can be very costly.

“I still have police officers that I preach their funerals for, that I work with,” said retired chaplain Bobby Altstatt. Altstatt worked as a chaplain with both the OKC police and fire departments. Retirement was going pretty well for Bobby and his wife, Karen, until Karen’s medical conditions.

“When you think you’ve got some savings and something like this happens, you know, it goes quicker than you think,” said Altstatt. The retirement checks sustained their normal lifestyle, as long as there were no unexpected expenses.

“Our air conditioning went out the hottest week of the summer. It was ninety-four degrees in here,” said Karen Altstatt. The entire unit needed to be replaced, to the tune of $10,000. A family friend was able to get the unit on, but with no guarantee as to how long it would work.

“We’re a Christian family, and we started doing what we do and pray,” said Altstatt. While the couple prayed, their daughter wrote a letter to Comfort Wave, hoping the prayers would be answered.

“These folks are a staple in the community,” said BJ Canning, operations manager with Comfort Wave. When Comfort Wave heard about the Altstatt’s challenges, they knew they had to help.

“It’s pretty bad. It’s twenty-four years old and has definitely run its life expectancy; it was time for a new one,” said Canning. Through Lennox’s Feel the Love program, Comfort Wave went to work.

“We pulled out the old furnace, the old air conditioner, and we are replacing those with a new coil,” said Canning.

Prayers answered for the happy homeowners.

“I’m not going to lie, after thinking about this by myself, I shed some tears over it. They were tears of joy,” said Altstatt. The couple is reaping the benefits of the goodness they’ve sown over the years.

“It saved us; it just saved us. It bailed us out,” said Altstatt.