WAAY 31 is proud to help the hometowns of the Tennessee Valley with our One Million Dollar Community Investment.

Non-profits around the region can apply and be rewarded media grants.

This story focuses on Nexus Energy Center, a group committed to helping you conserve energy and save money.

The group is already doing the kind of work proposed by Governor Bentley in his Alabama Weatherization Assistance Program.

Nexus Energy Center is helping people on low or fixed incomes weatherize their homes to lower utility bills, and they do it for free.

“If you’re a senior citizen on a fixed income or a low income household where the house is all you’ve got, you still deserve to be comfortable in the dead winter or in the heat of summer,” Nexus Energy Center Executive Director Ruchi Singhal said.

82-year-old Betty Goens of Huntsville said without the Comfort Project, she would not have been able to weatherize her own home and reduce her utility bills.

“When you’re on a very limited income, it helps,” Goens said.

Today Nexus employee Chad Wright stopped by Goens’ house to check on the improvements they made. After conducting a test that measures the air flow in and out of the house, he realized there was a leak allowing cold air to escape into the attic.

Fixing that leak will further reduce Goens’ bill. But according to Nexus, financial benefits aren’t the only positive outcomes clients are seeing.

“Allergies, asthma and health are improving, so this has really been an added benefit for the Comfort Project,” Singhal said.

And the project has even been forging some unlikely friendships.

“It’s been pretty fun. I’ve met some interesting people like Ms. Goens,” Chad Wright said.

And Goens agrees.

“I appreciate everything they’ve done, and they’re great people,” she said.

To find out more about Nexus Energy Center, check out their website.