PHILANTHROPY SPOTLIGHT: Ben Constantino and John Arrigo Step Up to Assist Senior With Dangerous Health Condition

By Maria Sonnenberg // July 28, 2025

Brevard Cooling and Heating owners help hospice patient Samantha Drown survive summer heat

Good Samaritans Ben Constantino and John Arrigo, business partners at Brevard Cooling and Heating, helped Samantha Drown, above, a hospice patient with an irreparable air conditioner during the height of the summer heat.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Brevard is blessed with a generous population of Good Samaritans, people who, like Ben Constantino and John Arrigo, step up and do the right thing.

For Constantino and Arrigo, business partners at Brevard Cooling and Heating, the right thing was to help Samantha Drown, a hospice patient living on very limited income and with an irreparable air conditioner.

Having no air conditioning in the middle of a Space Coast summer is an unpleasant inconvenience for most of us, but for Drown, who suffers from COPD, it can be dangerous to her already fragile well-being.

Even under the best of conditions, she needs extra help from the oxygen tank she keeps at home. She had worked as a hair stylist until she could no longer stand because of neuropathy, a condition resulting from nerve damage.

“It hit me pretty hard,” she recalls. “The pain was excruciating.”

In addition to her breathing and neural problems, diabetic ulcers on her feet are painful and require daily dressing. The Merritt Island resident also broke her hip and shattered her shoulder after tripping by her refrigerator.

As she struggles to remain independent in her own home, her only remaining family are her two cats, elderly Patches and young Bobbie, the Maine Coon kitty that appeared in her yard one day.

Even with the advent of her own serious medical issues, Drown had been the primary caregiver for her husband, who died of cancer in the house they purchased two decades past. She had replaced the air conditioner 14 years ago. When it broke this summer, Drown had a feeling it was gone for good.

Nurse practitioner Brenda Britten, who has been helping Samantha Drown for years, was deeply concerned when she saw her patient without air conditioning. So, too, were the team at Amedisys Hospice of Brevard, which treats Samantha for her wounds daily.

Nurse practitioner Brenda Britten, who has been helping Samantha for years, was very concerned when she saw her patient with no air conditioning. So, too, were the team at Amedisys Hospice of Brevard, which treats Samantha for her wounds daily.

“Having no air conditioning can make the patients very uncomfortable,” said Linda Arrendondo, director of operations.

As a temporary solution, the hospice helped Drown obtain a window unit. Drown called Brevard Cooling and Heating in Melbourne. The company offers a five percent discount on repairs to senior citizens, military, and first responders, and was able to answer Drown’s call for help quickly.

However, after air conditioning technician Anthony Franco examined the existing unit at Drown’s house, he unfortunately did not have good news for Samantha. She needed a whole new unit. She didn’t have the money.

“She was not able to afford it, so I talked with John and we decided to help,” Constatino said.

As it happened, Brevard Cooling and Heating had a $9,800 3.5-ton unit from their new construction jobs and in just one day, Drown and her cats had a pleasant, cool home once again.

“They deserve a lot of recognition for what they did,” Britten said.

Constantino notes he and Arrigo did not do the job for publicity, but rather to pay back the community that helped their company grow from a two-man shop to 50 employees, as well as to celebrate in a very tangible way the importance of the county’s senior community.

“They are just like our parents,” Constantino said.

For more information about Brevard Cooling and Heating, visit BrevardCooling.com.