NOLANVILLE — A single mother of three got a special late Christmas present on Wednesday — a new heating and air-conditioning unit for her home.
Amber Gill, 27, received the new system after being selected from among 150 nominations as part of an annual giveaway by Ellis Air Systems.
“I was entered into the giveaway,” Gill said. “I didn’t get my hopes up. I just thought that if it happens, it happens. They called me (on Tuesday) and I cried. It’s really amazing they would do that.”
Gill lives in a mobile home in Nolanville with her three children, ages 11, 12 and 14. She’s a corrections officer for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Gatesville.
“I’ve been here since May of last year,” she said. “When I moved in, there were a lot of problems with the trailer. There was no heat, and occasionally the AC would turn on. And over the summer, my son had a lot of health issues with the heat.”
And other options weren’t working, either.
“We got the window units but they’re not strong enough,” Gill said. “A lot of times, they would knock off all the power. Ellis came out and said the AC is completely dead. I just had surgery and couldn’t afford what it was going to cost.”
The unit Ellis installed on Wednesday costs about $8,000, Ellis employee Ramon Campos said.
“I’m pretty lucky that I’m the one who has put it in the last three years,” he said. “This is pretty much something we do for the community every year between December and January, giving it to” a deserving person. “We try to do our best.”
Ellis, a Killeen company, has provided an HVAC unit each year to a nominee since 2015. But other times, the company has repaired units for homeowners who may not have been nominated for the giveaways but cannot afford to pay for the work.
