James Anderson, a 53-year-old plumber, has been offering his services for free to the elderly and disabled since 2017, when he founded the non-profit organisation, Depher. For the past four years, James has been working for 70 hours every day without taking a day off. He has so far assisted more than 10,000 families.
His funding comes mainly from donations, but when these are not enough, he has to charge a minimum fee. He said:
"As long as I have enough money to fill up the tank in my car, I will be there to try and help the people who need it."
James came up with the idea to start Depher (Disabled and Elderly Plumbing and Heating Emergency Response) after being called to a home occupied by an old disabled man who was charged £5,500 ($7,478) for a new boiler. Since then, he has vowed to assist the most vulnerable in his community, "whatever the cost".
However, following the CoViD-19 pandemic, James started offering his services to people outside his area of operation by donating food parcels to nursing homes, care homes and ambulance service members. He said:
"We started off just doing plumbing and heating, but we saw so many people struggling it felt like it was wrong to stop there. Anything we can do, we will try to do."
James, who is a father of six, says he has spent £57,000 ($77,505) during the pandemic, and although that's quite a lot, he says it was "worth every penny".
He noted:
"If you've got disabilities, issues, sometimes these things can become too difficult to overcome and we want to make sure they're taken care of. We've all got a social responsibility to each other – we need to be there for each other."
"Doing all of this has made me realize the reality of our communities, the amount of people who are struggling. And you can't just sit by and do nothing."
You can support James by making a donation on his GoFundMe page.
[Based on reporting by: Positive Outlooks]
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