New Jersey plumber heads to Texas to help storm victims
We’ve all seen the devastation the historic winter storm brought to Texas; well, one New Jersey man decided to do something about it. Andrew Mitchell and his wife, Kisha Pinnock, loaded up his plumbing tools and drove to Houston.
Andrew had seen the scenes of burst pipes and heard stories about people waiting for weeks for help and took action. His apprentice, Isaiah Pinnock, went with the couple. A story on CNN.com reports that Kisha’s sister lives in Houston and served as a conduit to match up Andrew with people in need. Pinnock, who is a lawyer, told CNN, "By the time we got here there was already about four or five jobs lined up from my sister, and we just hit those first and then everything after that has really just been referrals from like the initial customers, like their friends and family," adding, "Since we've been here, it has really been nonstop."
At one point, over 3 million Texans were without power and that coincided with temperatures in the teens, causing pipes all over the state to burst, overwhelming local plumbers. The state scrambled to meet the demand, issuing emergency waivers to plumbing apprentices to allow them to perform repairs without the direct supervision of a master plumber. Still, the need was massive. One plumbing contractor in Houston told a local television station that his company got over 20,000 calls for service in one day; they normally field about 500.
Kisha told CNN that they are extending their stay in Texas for two weeks because of all the people in need.
The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle. Any opinions expressed are Bill Doyle's own.