Pipefitters Local 120, MCA of Cleveland step up.
Replace, Install new chiller compressor
When a non-profit drug and alcohol rehab center needed a new compressor for the chiller at one of their properties, members of Pipefitters Local 120 and the Mechanical Contractors Association of Cleveland stepped up to help.
The Ed Keating Center operates three non-profit sober living facilities for recovering alcoholic, and drug-addicted, men and women. The organization takes in individuals struggling with addiction at no cost to the individual or their health insurance.
When the chiller stopped working at the center’s facility at 1980 Brookpark Road, Ed Keating Center Director Marty Taft, reached out to Pipefitters Local 120.
Taft spoke with Local 120 Business Agent Pat Cook, who immediately offered to help.
“I called Pat, and his guys were out here working in a day,” Taft said. “(Local) 120 doesn’t get enough thanks. We are overwhelmed with gratitude during this fight against addiction.”
Once the compressor problem was diagnosed, Cook reached out to Mechanical and Plumbing Industry Council (MAPIC) Executive Director Todd McKeever.
“The cost for the compressor was going to be around $10,000,” said Cook. “Knowing the center is non-profit and relies on donations to keep its doors open, I reached out to Todd and asked him if he could reach out to our trade partners from the Mechanical Contractors Association of (MCA) Cleveland for donations to help offset the cost of the compressor.”
The total cost to fix the equipment was estimated to be somewhere between $10,000 to $12,000 and four MCA of Cleveland contractors offered to help.
S.A. Comunale, Relmec, E.B. Katz, Inc. and Smith and Oby all donated funds to purchase the equipment.
On Aug. 23, two Local 120 members, Anthony Roselli and Mike Krofcheck, started the installation.
According to Roselli, the pair worked at the Keating Center on four different days after their regular day shifts had ended. Two nights they spent six hours working, another night required seven hours, and they wrapped up on the evening of Aug. 29 with two hours of work.
Taft was grateful for how fast Roselli and Krofcheck completed the project, as it is vital to have a working chiller on 90-degree days.
The Ed Keating Center is named after sports agent, Edward J. Keating, who conquered his own alcoholism, and went on to provide others with a chance at sober living. The non-profit was founded in 1998 by Jack Mulhall, Phyllis Eisele-Curran and Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher Dennis Eckersley.
The Keating Center offers a variety of services, starting with a three-month in-house sober living program where residents attend group meetings facilitated by experienced recovering alcoholics. Once the residents complete the program, they advance to a three-fourths transitional program.
“Local 120 and its members have always donated their labor to the Keating Center whenever called upon, whether it’s an HVAC or fire protection problem they may be having,” Cook said. “The Keating Center does amazing things for individuals struggling with addiction, and they do not ask for a dime. They always have a bed whenever we call for a member struggling with addiction.”