I'm asking for help and awareness today. 

This afternoon, at the Habitat for Humanity thrift store in Denton, a young couple came in to ask for directions to the cooling room run by a large church. The church is three miles or more down a hot road with only sporadic tree cover.  There are a few gas stations, a McDonalds, a drugstore -- and then nothing but hot, dry road.  It's 105-108 degrees here today with an ozone alert, and this was at 2 pm, no shade, no clouds, no breeze. 

The clerk at the store couldn't leave because she was the only one who could run the register. She asked the couple to stay, and filled up their little water bottle with ice and water, but the couple decided to walk. While their route took them past places to get a cool drink, the shop clerk said she didn't think the couple could afford to buy food or drinks.  And the woman is pregnant.

When I got to the shop I heard about the couple and went looking for them. They'd been walking for about 20 minutes by then. I never found them. I hope they stopped in at every shop along the way, and hopefully found a ride to the cooling room.  I drove the route twice but saw no one out in the heat.  It was a brutal day to be out walking anywhere, and so I drove the route again looking for anyone lying down or huddled down away from the road.  There was no sign of the couple.

On behalf of the unseen and unremarked people who have no access to air conditioning, this is what I ask of everyone: If you see someone who looks badly affected by the heat, ask if they have an air-conditioned place to cool off. Offer to buy them a bottle of water or a drink full of ice. Sit down and talk with them; let them save face. Give them a few dollars to buy a bag of ice, or something cool for themselves or kiddos to drink.

Friends, listen:  People who are worn out from the heat probably don't have any other choice but to take it. No one is faking heat exhaustion just to get a dollar's worth of water from a stranger. Offer the help. If you drive an air-conditioned car, pass your good fortune on to someone who doesn't have a car.  Spend the equivalent of a dollar's worth of gas for a couple of water bottles and help someone cool down.

All I can do now is hope that the young couple got to a cool space, and that they can recover and stay healthy.  I wish I'd been thirty minutes earlier getting to the thrift store.

Thanks for listening -- and thanks for taking a moment to care for someone who needs it. 

Sweet Crabby will be back to her usual cranky self soon.