Oil Heat Cares

Susquehanna Valley Chapter Project 4


A student from the of Penn College School of Construction & Design Tech. dilligently working.	Many hands make light work--removing the dinosaur.	Helen Rohm is happy to pose with a volunteer on the job, grateful for her now-toasty home.

As temperatures dropped and the wind blew on a cold October day and a Muncy resident’s boiler sputtered toward its end, a group of Pennsylvania College of Technology students and a faculty member volunteered in the timely installation of a heating system for an area senior citizen.

“This is an answer to prayer,” said Helen Rohm, grateful for her now-toasty home, where members of Richard C. Taylor’s Hydronic Heating Systems class of Penn College’s School of Construction and Design Technologies helped install a new Buderus furnace. The students assisted a crew from Robert W. Dittmar Plumbing & Heating, the Muncy contracting firm that led the “Oil Heat Cares” project. Bob Dittmar is also President of the Susquehanna Valley Chapter. The 40 year old rusty boiler wept puddles on the basement floor and its weakened steel walls were indicative that a new one was necessary.

“My comments echo the homeowner’s,” Taylor said. “Thank God for those willing to help when help is needed. These contractors and students have used their skills to serve others with great effect.” The class took away something less tangible, as well: the reward that comes from doing something for someone in need.

“It was a great learning experience that gave us, through the hands-on practice, an idea of what to expect on the job,” Miller said. “And when I think of those ladies in that warm house, and realize that we helped do that, it’s a good feeling.”

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