Calgary senior has furnace donated after hers was stolen

Adrienne Gnam will have a warm and merry Christmas this year, thanks to some generous community members who stepped up after a brazen crime.

The 81-year-old spoke with Global News earlier this week after discovering in October that someone had broke onto her property through the home’s back gate, disabled her security light and got into her garage.

Once inside, they stole her 15-year-old gas furnace.

Following the story, dozens of individuals and businesses from across Calgary and beyond reached out to Global News, offering to either donate a new furnace to Gnam or to offer money to help her buy a new one.

On Friday, filled with Christmas spirit, Reznor HVAC and Pete the Plumber and his team installed a brand new furnace in Gnam’s home, free of charge.

For her, the replacement furnace was a Christmas surprise she didn’t see coming.

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“I never expected to get a new furnace,” Gnam said. “I never did — I thought maybe somebody has an old one that they can give to me.”

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For those who donated the furnace, it was all about giving back.

“Fortunately, we’re in an industry that has the ability to step in and look after those in this situation,” said Lorne Reitenback with Equipco Ltd. “So we were happy to do so.”

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“Besides being Christmas, this is Calgary,” Pete said. “We’re a great city, we’re the greatest city in Canada, we help people and that’s what we’re all about.”

In exchange for their kindness, Gnam gave the crews freshly baked Christmas cookies as a thank-you.