When the dark, cold days of winter approach, for those who are elderly and on a fixed income, the thought of having to deal with heating issues can be pretty terrifying. As the temperature drops, what can one do, especially if they dont have the money to pay for their plumbing repairs?
James Anderson, a plumber in Burnley, in the north of England, has made it his mission to make sure that no one struggling with a disability or facing old age ever has to worry about that.
Customers of his non-profit company DEPHER are amazed to see the receipts for the emergency work they had done on their heating systems, all of which show no money paid. For Anderson, though, its nothing special. Just his way of showing gratitude to a generation that deserves this service.
Anderson has been working on peoples plumbing and heating systems since 2017, but a recent viral Facebook post featuring one of Andersons invoices drew attention from all over the United Kingdom and around the world to this good Samaritan. It all began when Anderson went to see a 91-year-old woman fighting for her life against leukemia.
Fixing her leaking boiler, Anderson wrote on the invoice sent to the womans daughter, Christine Anne Rowlands, “no charge for this lady under any circumstances. We will be available 24 hour[s] to help her and keep her as comfortable as possible.” What comes as the greatest surprise for anyone who has had pricey plumbing or HVAC problems was the balance due: 0.00 pounds.
Rowlands explained in her post, which now has almost 30,000 reactions, “I asked how much for the cost he said he would email me the invoice Xx.” She agreed with a friend of hers, who described Anderson as “an Angel dressed as a plumber.”
Went to mum's yesterday and big drama boiler was leaking and I phoned my sister Delta who managed to contact a plumber…
تم النشر بواسطة Christine Anne Rowlands في الاثنين، ٩ سبتمبر ٢٠١٩
So, what motivates Anderson to do this kind of work, for which he receives no compensation and has to spend his own valuable time and money on? “A lot of elderly and disabled people dont like asking for assistance and if they cant afford something like fixing the boiler, they might not do it and get into trouble,” he told CNN.
Alluding to his efforts, Anderson shared with Channel 5 News: “The elderly especially, they helped create this country to what we have now.”
“Some of them have gone through the war, through [economic] depressions, and its not fair that they should just be put to one side,” he further added.
When he started looking for services that specifically catered to this demographic, he noticed a gaping hole. “I searched everywhere, the whole planet. I went all over [the web]. I couldnt find any other company that did this kind of thing anywhere.”
His accountant then helped him set up a “community-interest company,” which functions in a similar way to a charity. The result was Disabled & Elderly Plumbing and Heating Emergency Repair. As he explained to Channel 5, his criteria for choosing people to help are simple: “All Im interested is are you over 65 or are you disabled?”
Awed by all the attention he haRead More – Source
