When you’re elderly, you’re more than likely living on a fixed income, and that income is usually pretty low. And with that low income, seniors often have to make a decision to use it for medication or food.
In America alone, the number of seniors who deal with this is more than 8 million. If anything out of the ordinary happens or an emergency arises, like something goes wrong with their car or one of their appliances starts acting up, it’s likely going to put them in a real bind.
In Burnley, England, though, one man is doing what he can to help out senior citizens. 52-year-old James Anderson is a plumber and a handyman, and he’s been one for a long time. And over all those years he’s come to realize that not everyone, especially seniors, can easily afford the work he does.
So James started fixing seniors and disabled persons’ plumbing and other problems for free. And all of a sudden, after a post about it went viral, people James did work for started snapping off pictures of themselves holding zero-charge bills from him.
One woman had her boiler fixed by James, and the note on the bill said: “No charge for this lady under any circumstances. We will be available 24 hours to help her and keep her as comfortable as possible.”
James is the father of five children. He started a not-for-profit company called Depher, which helps pay for jobs for the elderly and disabled. He gets by by using crowdfunding and donations.
Says James on his GoFundMe page: “The safety of our elderly and disabled relies on funding and kindness, without it we may not be able to get to everyone that needs this lifeline. From when this started in March 2017 we have helped over 1,980 people and families, because of donations from the public and from ourselves at northern plumbing and heating ltd.”
And James cannot believe the incredible response from others the site has generated. And now, people in other countries, like America, France and Australia, are working with James to provide the same services for the elderly and disabled.
Says James: “Hopefully… we can bring all communities together for one common cause across the planet, so everybody who’s elderly and disabled, not just in the UK, can benefit from something like this in society.”
And that sounds like a perfect way to do business.
