Despite a foot of snow, Astar Heating & Air comes through with a new boiler for ADAPT

A foot of snow blanketed the Hudson Valley on the day Astar Heating & Air headed out to voluntarily install a boiler at a home for residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the Middletown, N.Y., area.

The home is one of 44 run by ADAPT of the Hudson Valley, an agency that serves the needy in three counties north of New York City.

On that wintry day, many of ADAPT’s employees could not even get out of their driveway. But it didn’t stop Astar, which arrived on time and installed the boiler as part of ServiceTitan’s Power the Nation initiative.

“That was the oldest boiler we had,” said Kathleen Contreras, Vice President of Program Services for ADAPT. “When we were approached about the opportunity to receive this, we said absolutely, this is where our need is.”

To Astar, it was just part of being in the trades. Craig Schwinghammer, Astar’s General Manager, said if one of their trucks arrives at a job and the driveway is snowed in, they’ll dig their way through. They take care of people the best way they can.

“It's blue collar,” Schwinghammer said. “It’s people helping their neighbor. I think it’s part of your job.”

Power The Nation is an effort at ServiceTitan to partner with contractors to help people in need in their local communities. This #PowerTheNation effort had a ripple effect beyond keeping one home warm.

“Any help that we can get really allows us to provide better services for the individuals we serve, because we can use those funds to do more person-centered things.” Contreras said. “Whether it be getting them into the community more or being able to provide better wages for our staff. Every penny counts.”

Relationship leads to help for the vulnerable

ADAPT is a Medicaid-funded nonprofit that serves the needy in three counties north of New York City. It was the first iteration of the ADAPT Community Network across the United States.

Astar’s relationship with ADAPT started because it handles the heating and cooling needs for 40 ADAPT residences and 265 residents.

“Astar is always coming right out to ensure we are being taken care of,” Contreras said. “They really understand the need, and that these are vulnerable people.”

Earlier, ServiceTitan recognized Astar’s parent company, Sila Services, by honoring it with one of its 2024 Prometheus Awards, which recognize contractors for their exceptional community service. 

Astar donates $50 to a children’s cancer research charity for every install it does. Going into 2025, it will enact an iPledge campaign, where it will ask each employee to pledge certain hours for charity, then in a fun way track and recognize the effort.

The boiler-in-the-snow effort came about because Astar reached out to see if ADAPT needed anything. This need was real.

“We try to act proactively on these,” Contreras said. “We don’t want a boiler going out in January. It’s frigid up there, and it is imperative that the people we support are in a comfortable situation. These are their homes.”

Impact beyond the immediate

A disruption like losing heat can have a negative effect beyond temperature for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“We have folks who are medically compromised, who are in hospital beds, or folks who have behavioral challenges,” Contreras said. “For you and I, temperature change is not going to be something significant. But if one of our homes drops 10 degrees, you see people having behavioral challenges. Shifts in temperature can even cause seizures.

“It is quite a medically complex population that we support, and it was important to be able to work with a local company that would be proactive with us.”

Schwinghammer called the work of ADAPT eye opening, and he said Astar was happy to provide what was needed to ensure safety and comfort.

“A donation or a gift of this size really impacts what we're able to do,” Contreras said. “Not just for the people we support, but also our employees. So we're very, very grateful and again, just love working with Astar and how attentive they are to our needs.”