A woman and her elderly mother have been living the past few weeks without a working air conditioning unit. Thanks to a local business, they got some much needed relief Thursday.

With an Excessive Heat Warning in effect through Friday, the cold gift couldn’t have come at a better time.

“I know it was 97 to 100 in here,” said Susan Garcia. When the old air conditioning unit went out at her elderly mother’s home, Garcia said she didn’t know what she was going to do.

“Suffocating type feeling. You can’t drink enough water,” said Garcia, who is the caretaker for her 84-year-old mother. Her mother has dementia.

Susan, on a fixed income and not knowing where to turn, called the Salvation Army, and that got the ball rolling.

“Before you know it, Dale calls and he says my mom can have a new AC unit,” said Garcia. “I didn’t know where it was going to come from.”

“Dale” is Dale Steele with Goettl Air Conditioning.

“We just want to help out whenever we can,” said Steele. “Goettl’s been in the community for 78 years, and we believe in taking care of our neighbors.”

On Thursday, Goettl techs showed up to make sure Garcia and her mom can be comfortable at home, once again.

“In this type of weather when it’s so hot and a system is down and somebody has no cooling, it’s a serious issue,” said Steele. “It’s definitely a life support system in Arizona.”

“I believe it’s a godsend, because it’s been two weeks since the air’s been out, and my mother being elderly and she has dementia, she doesn’t understand what’s going on,” said Garcia. “I’m thanking God for this company. I’m thanking God for Dale because I didn’t know what to do.”

The new unit reportedly cost about $8,000, and Garcia said there is no way they would have been able to afford that on their own.