A local foundation is hoping to make an Orchard Park family’s Christmas a little more merrier this year.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” said Mary Keller of Orchard Park. “No one was going to finance me and I had my hands tied.”
The Amanda Hansen Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization that provides CO detectors to those that cannot afford them while also spreading awareness of the dangers of CO poisoning, will be donating a furnace to Keller and her family at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15. Keller is a single mother of two little girls. When she found out she had cracks in her furnace this spring, she didn’t know what she was going to do. She worked full-time to support her daughters and a new furnace would be a very hefty expense. When she recently lost her job, she felt as if all hope was lost.
“I couldn’t get financed for a furnace with no credit, so I reached out to the Amanda Hansen Foundation to perhaps see if they knew someone that would finance me,” said Keller. “I spoke with Ken who sent someone over to look at my furnace, and then shortly thereafter I received a call from him saying he was going to donate one to us. I started crying.”
Hansen lost his daughter Amanda to CO poisoning after she slept over a friend’s house that had high levels of CO in the home. Since that day, Ken and his wife Kim have made it their mission to see that no family loses a loved one again to this silent killer. Hansen said it’s his pleasure to help the Keller family as it will be his Christmas present to his daughter Amanda this year.
“Both my parents have passed and I don’t have anyone to ask for money,” said Keller. “I was really scared and he made my year.”
