'Beat the heat': Salvation Army, Reliant Energy partner up to help cool down Lubbock

With the first week of summer already setting record-breaking triple digits in Lubbock, the Salvation Army and Reliant Energy have partnered up to provide a cooling station and 40 air-conditioner units to the community.

The cooling station — located at 1111 16th St. — will provide a place for people to get out of the sun and stay hydrated.

"Us coming together to form partnerships that make a difference in the lives others," said David Worthy, major of the Lubbock Salvation Army. "It may very well be that one of these units could even save a life."

This comes after the City of Lubbock announced earlier this week that the public libraries would also serve the public as cooling stations.

"Once we hit those record highs, we're also using more electricity which ultimately means electricity bills are higher which may deter us from turning on our ACs," Anna Delano said. "We don't want anyone's help to suffer."

Delano serves as the Lubbock region manager for Reliant Energy and said there are statewide resources — through the government and businesses — individuals can use to help control their energy bill.

One of them is 211. Texas residents can simply call 211 or go to 211texas.org to learn more about the resources available to help pay their energy bills.

Even though Lubbock residents can't switch their power to a new electric provider yet, Reliant has worked to integrate itself into the Lubbock Community.

"We want to make sure that we contribute to the community before we ever ask for your business," Delano said. "It's part of our DNS — we don't know any other way."

Currently, Reliant Energy sponsors the South Plains Food Bank, Los Hermanos Familia, 100 Black Men of America Inc. and many other organizations.

Delano also said there is aid that Reliant can offer the community once Lubbock switches to a deregulated market — which still has no set date in sight.

Both Mayor Tray Payne and city Councilwoman Christy Martinez-Garcia passed along their thanks to the Salvation Army and Reliant for their efforts in servicing the Lubbock community.

"This is so necessary in a time we have families that have been dealing with this heat — people that are in very poor conditions as far as they just don't have the extra cash," Martinez-Garcia said. "So we really, really appreciate it."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Salvation Army, Reliant Energy help Lubbock community 'beat the heat'