Local Business Replaces Lauderdale Church's Stolen A/C Units
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – Churchgoers at one Fort Lauderdale church will no longer have to sit during Sunday service without air conditioning. That's because a local AC business replaced the systems which were stolen a month ago.
Members of the First Interdenominational Haitian Church were praying for a miracle after all six of their building's air conditioner units were stolen.
"We have to worship God," a church member said. "We know God can do anything. So we wait for God to do something."
According to Pastor Marc Gererd, on August 3 at least two people stole an air conditioning unit from the church at NW 11th Avenue and 8th Street. The following night Gererd said they came back and stole the rest.
Art Plumbing & Air Conditioning in Coral Springs replaced four systems Wednesday at little to no profit and will give the church 12 months to pay them back.
"I just couldn't get over how somebody could steal something from the church," Gregory Frazier of Art Plumbing and AC said.
The stolen air conditioning units were inside an area surrounded by a six-foot fence, but the lock was not cut or broken. Gererd pastor thinks the thieves lifted all the units over the fence.
Gererd said this was the second robbery in the last month. A week before the air conditioner units were taken someone burglarized the church.
"We heard a news story about three or four weeks ago that the units have been stolen from the back of the church and they were without air so we came out, contacted the pastor and asked him if anybody had offered to help and he said, 'No,'" Frazier said.
Police suspect the units, which were not insured, were most likely taken for their copper and aluminum parts which can be sold for scrap.
"People's religious belief is what drives them and to see that wounded like this… it wasn't right," Frazier said.
It will take a few days before the units are replaced, but it will be just in time for services this weekend.
