A Salt Lake City woman is making candle stoves to help keep the city’s homeless residents warm. Susan Keene knows the challenges of being homeless. Many of her close relatives have had to deal with being homeless. So to help her community’s homeless population deal with the frigid Utah nights, for the third year in a row Keene is making candle stove kits to be distributed to people who need them.
In a make-shift candle stove factory in her basement apartment, Keene will produce around 800 candle stove kits this winter. She uses donated candles and cans to create the stoves and bundles them together with essential items like matches, socks, blankets, hand warmers, small games, and pot holders, so people don’t burn their fingers on the stoves.
Keene partners with organizations like Unsheltered Utah to help get the kits to people who need them most. Executive Director of Unsheltered Utah Wendy Garvin says Keene’s stoves have helped more than a few people to stay alive this winter. “We have people asking for her candle stoves all the time,” Garvin says. “We feel like any sort of heating device has saved lives this winter.” This news brings a smile to Keene’s face. “Wow,” Keene says, “That’s exciting to know.”
Source: KSL TV