TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Community Home Repair Projects of Arizona, also known as CHRPA, is seeing more requests to activate swamp coolers at mobile homes.
KGUN 9 is finding out how this heatwave is impacting neighbors and the non-profit.
Phoebe Robinson called our newsroom a couple of days ago, telling us that there is a delay in her cooler activation request at her mobile home in Flowing Wells.
"I’ve never ever in my whole life seen it this hot in March," Robinson said.
I came out to CHRPA, a local non-profit focusing on activating coolers. They are dealing with a huge influx of calls.
"We understand the urgency, and we’re trying to sort through those voicemails, trying to find the most urgent need," Carrie Nelson said.
Nelson is with the CHRPA non-profit organization. She tells me the unusual early start to hotter weather is making it a challenge to do her job.
"We typically don’t start that until April," Nelson said.
Since Nelson and CHRPA are not used to the early requests, it is taking longer to answer calls. Robinson is one of the callers.
"I hadn’t gotten any response," Robinson said.
Until Tuesday, she tells me she waited a couple of weeks to hear back.
"My mobile home has insulation, but usually the inside is the same temperature as the outside," Robinson said.
Nelson says they usually get 300 to 400 voicemails a summer season. It is already looking to surpass that.
"We are doing our best to respond to that. Right now we have over 100 open cooling requests, and we anticipate that being about a third of the requests for cooler startups alone this year," Nelson said.
She notes it is overlapping with typical March requests like roof and utility repairs, along with funding cuts.
"This year, with funding cuts and the increased requests, we are going to have to rely on more community support to help people stay alive as the heat continues," Nelson said.
If you would like to help, you can visit the CHRPA website.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Marc Monroy joined KGUN 9 as a multimedia journalist after moving from KGUN 9’s sister station, KXXV, in Waco, Texas. He graduated from California State University, Northridge, in 2024 with a degree in journalism. A native of Southern California and a bilingual reporter, Marc is excited to serve Southern Arizona and looks forward to connecting with neighbors in the community. Share your story ideas and important issues with Marc by emailing marc.monroy@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
