Services for heat draw some

With temperatures soaring through the summer, services designed to keep people cool are springing up around the Wabash Valley, but the degree to which people use those services varies from day-to-day and week-to-week.

Covenant Cooperative ministries in Terre Haute reports they have had plenty of demand for fans this summer. Of about 150 fans delivered to the organization, all but 13 had been given away by Wednesday afternoon. Executive Director Rose Aycock said the need for the fans, especially among some groups.

“The elderly, the disabled, those with young children,” Aycock said, describing some of those in most need of fans. “I often wondered if what we’re doing … a fan seems like a small thing … but a fan is very useful.”

Meanwhile, cooling centers have sprung up as well around the region in hopes of giving people respite from the heat.

At one such cooling center, housed at the Red Cross office in Terre Haute, workers said they hadn’t seen any visitors to the center on Wednesday, though they said previous weeks had drawn several visitors, including a family driving across country without an air conditioner.

Stores and malls, however, reported seeing an increase in visitors and shoppers during the heat.