And Then There Was Light…

The call came late Friday afternoon to help a family whose power had been shut off for a week. The father, Juan, had been out of work for three months and couldn’t speak English, which made it harder for him to know how to get help with restoring power.

When SVDP heard the news, volunteers immediately called Puget Sound Energy (PSE) to verify the disconnect and determine what it would take to get their electricity reconnected. The PSE representative told us to speak to a Re-Connection specialist, who wasn’t available at the time, but returned our call, as promised, after hours.

The amount owed was within our limits for spending and we took care of the bill. The specialist promised to have the power turned on within 24 hours.

We worked with a Spanish-speaking parishioner at Juan’s church to share the good news with the young family. When one of our volunteers visited the next day to bring them food, the power came back on during the home visit.