"My name's Albert. I'm 68. I deliver heating oil to homes in rural Pennsylvania. Drive the tanker truck, fill people's tanks, and collect payment. Been doing this route for twenty-three years, identical two hundred houses.
Winter up here isn't a joke. You run out of oil, and your house gets down to freezing in hours.
But I can tell when people are stretching it.
Like Mrs. Kowalski on Ridgeway Road. Typically orders oil every six weeks in winter. Last year, she went fourteen weeks. I'd drive past her house, see frost on the inside of her windows. She was keeping the heat off, living in one room with a space heater.
I knocked on her door. "Mrs. Kowalski, you need oil. It's 12 degrees out."
She wouldn't open the door all the way—too cold inside. "I'll order next month, Albert. When my check comes."
"You won't make it to next month."
"I'll manage."
I filled her tank anyway. Two hundred gallons. Didn't ask. Just did it.
Next day, she called the office crying. "I can't pay for that oil."
"Pay me when you can. Or don't. Can't have you freezing."
Started noticing it everywhere on my route. Families rationing heat. Elderly folks going weeks without ordering. Houses I'd delivered to for twenty years, suddenly silent.
I created a system. When I saw someone stretching too long, I'd deliver anyway. Mark it on my sheet as "partial delivery" or "maintenance fill." Company never checked the details.
That winter, I gave away about 12,000 dollars in oil. My own commissions, mostly. Some from my savings.
Mrs. Kowalski called me in March. "I got my tax refund. I'm paying you back. Every penny."
"Keep your money."
"No. But take this." She handed me three hundred dollars cash. "For the next person who's cold."
Now I keep that money in my truck. When someone can't pay, I use it. When they pay me back, it goes back in the fund. It's up to four thousand now.
Other oil delivery drivers heard. Started doing it in Vermont, Maine, upstate New York. Can't let people freeze over money.
I'm 68. I drive a tanker truck through blizzards to keep houses warm.
But I've learned this, heat isn't a luxury. It's survival. And no grandmother should choose between food and freezing.
So warm someone's house today. Pay their utility bill. Check on your cold neighbors.
Because winter doesn't care about your bank account.
But we should."
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Let this story reach more hearts....
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