Plumbing and heating company Depher (Disability and Elderly Plumbing and Heating Emergency Repair) has provided countless emergency heating and plumbing repairs for free to disabled and elderly residents. However, on January 7th, the company received a particularly emotive email from Jonathan Gladstone, the son of a recent customer.
In the letter, Jonathan expresses his gratitude for not only the repairs done to his mother’s boiler but also for the person who ‘spent time to talk to her and reassure her’.
It can be easy to think that an act like this is lovely but not significant in the grand scheme of things. This is not the case, as highlighted by Jonathan who revealed that his ‘mother was thinking about ending her life, until you spoke to her.’
The social enterprise has received a number of grateful emails from the families of other customers, all expressing their gratitude for Depher’s selflessness and genuine desire to help vulnerable people struggling to keep warm during harsh winter.
Depher, based in Burnley in England, was established by James Anderson in 2017 to provide emergency plumbing and heating related repairs to disabled people and those aged over 65. The organisation provides services at no cost during the winter months and offers discounts during the summer for those eligible. The company receives most of their funding through public donations, enabling the team to travel to customers and quickly provide emergency repairs.
More than 17,000 people in the UK died during the previous winter due to cold housing conditions. Depher is doing all it can to prevent such figures from becoming a common occurrence in the UK.
During the pandemic, Depher has also helped distribute essential PPE and set up a foodbank, further providing for the community in precarious times. Since its establishment in 2017, Depher has helped over 17,000 families and counting.
To find out more and to support, or be supported by Depher, please visit their website.
