Christine Anne Rowlands of England was surprised when she received the plumber’s bill for work done at her 91-year-old mother’s house. The boiler was leaking, so Rowlands’ sister Delta called plumber James Anderson at Depher to fix the problem.
Anderson, a 52-year-old plumber, showed up quickly, and discovered the problem: two leaks and high pressure. He solved the problem, and as he left, Rowlands asked him how much she owed him. He said he’d mail her the bill.
Soon, she got the mail, but the bill wasn’t at all what she was expecting: Anderson wasn’t going to charge a single cent for his work. The total was written as “0.00,” and in the description of the work, she read, “Lady is 91 years of age. Acute leukemia. End of life care. No charge for this lady under any circumstances. We will be available 24 hours to help her and keep her as comfortable as possible.”
Rowlands shared the story on Facebook, commenting, “As a friend said, an Angel dressed as a plumber.”
What the Rowlands sisters hadn’t realized is that the purpose of Anderson’s business, Depher, which he founded in 2017, is to provide “free plumbing and heating emergency services for the elderly and disabled.” He can’t always do the work totally for free, because he depends on crowdfunding and on cooperation and donations in kind from other companies, but he does his best.
The BBC did a video about Depher:
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