HOMEDALE, Idaho — Necia Lootens is a foot care specialist, and she helps care for an Army veteran in Homedale. His name is Bruce Peterson. He's 94-years-old and he served 23 years in the Army, and five of those years in combat.
When she found out that Peterson's air conditioner was broken in the middle of our triple digit heat wave, she reached out to the community for help.
"I think his thermostat read 101 degrees, so we had to do something," Lootens said.
Peterson had been living like that for days.
"It was hot," Peterson said. "It just didn't work."
Lootens was really worried about him.
"I will say when I came in to the house, it was 99 degrees, the dogs were panting on the floor and Bruce was in a puddle of sweat." Lootens said. "It was pretty scary to see, to walk in and see the shape that he was in."
Peterson said he was really uncomfortable, and he was worried about his beloved pets, too.
"I have two dogs and a cat," he said. "Baby and Blackie, and Cat are their names."
Lootens reached out for help on Facebook.
"I thought, we have a great community in Homedale and Marsing, so I put it on the Facebook pages and the responses were unbelievable. People were willing to donate air conditioners, bring fans, put air conditioners up," she said.
One of the people who responded right away was Joseph Valverde of Highland Heating and Air Conditioning.
"Basically, I was on top of a roof and I saw a whole bunch of notifications on my phone, everyone saying hey can we help him out," Valverde said.
He immediately dropped what he was doing, and decided to head to Peterson's house to help.
"He reached out to me and said I'm at a job, but I'm willing to put everything down and be there in 15 minutes," Lootens said.
Valverde said it was the right thing to do.
"I have soft spot for veterans, veterans and our first responders," Valverde said. "I came over here, diagnosed what was going on with it, and I realized it was a cheap part. I replaced that and made sure everything was working properly, I cleaned out his system as well.
He also told us just how dangerous that kind of heat could be.
"Inside the house, It was pretty hot. Close to triple digits. At that temperature, you could have heat stroke, dehydration, everything like that," Valverde said. "He's 94, so something definitely could have happened to him, especially with that hot of a heat and he had no fans or anything in that house."
Valverde refused to charge Peterson. He was so relieved, and so grateful for the help,
"He fixed it," said Peterson. "It cooled down, and now I keep it at 78 degrees.
Since Valverde came to the rescue, he and Bruce have become fast friends.
"Oh, he's my buddy," Peterson said.
Valverde has been checking in on Peterson when he can.
"When I come over here, we sit out here and talk, he's a good talker, he talks about everything in life. I have a pretty good friendship with him, I get along with everyone and it seems he does the same exact thing," Valverde said.
He said he is honored that he was able to step in so that Bruce could get some relief from the heat. He said it's the very least he could do.
"I was basically trying to help out a veteran," Valverde said. "They put their lives on the line every single day for us."
Peterson doesn't have family in the area, and he has other immediate needs as well. To help with the Bruce Peterson Fund, click here.