Plumbing Angels

California had a tough end to 2007. Major rainstorms and fires caused flooding, evacuations, and home loss. During the disaster, the owners of My Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning in San Diego got right to work.

Franco Testa went shopping: “The first thing we did is, we went to Costco and bought two pallets of water and delivered it to Qualcomm Stadium.”

Then Testa offered minor plumbing service for free and discounted prices for cleaning furnaces and changing air conditioning filters. Testa also responded to the city’s request that damaged homes have a faucet installed by the water meter at the curb. “We told this particular customer that lost their house, we’d be out there for free,” he said. “We do it for you, no problem.”

It didn’t take fires or flooding to spark the company’s generosity. Testa said My Plumbing has always been very involved in the community and giving back. “We move furniture for people, for military spouses, we do free plumbing, heating and air for them totally free.” During the holidays, the company was also conducting its annual food drive, offering $25 discounts to customers who brought canned goods for donation to the local food bank.

“I think it’s just part of our culture,” said partner Mark Presgrave. “My father founded the company and it’s just always been a part of our culture to give back.” He noted that close to 24,000 pounds of food was donated during the last food drive. And their good works continue year-round. “We sponsor little league teams and we help out during Christmas. People don’t have the money when stoppages happen—we give away a (service) call a day to someone who needs it.”

What, like, in the true Christmas spirit? You betcha. They authorize their employees to give away a free service every day in December. “When we have those we say, ‘Hey, use your discretion but if you can tell that they’re really unprepared and this is really going to put a toll on them, let us know,’” Presgrave said. “‘Give us a call and we’ll donate the service.’ That’s just the way we do business.”

Testa agreed: “It’s a beautiful thing to give back,” he said. “And it’s amazing how it works.” Testa recalled when he went to Qualcomm Stadium to help the displaced, he saw a customer he’d done plumbing work for just a few days before. “And he sees us coming with all this water and he said, ‘I cannot believe that you guys do all this.’”

A little farther east, Tucson, Arizona is subject to extreme temperatures on both ends of the mercury, which most seriously impacts the large homeless population. Which is why Naughton’s Plumbing, Heating and Cooling teams with the Salvation Army every year for a blanket and coat drive at all five of its locations.

Frank W. Naughton, president of the third-generation family business, said it was originally his mother’s idea more than a dozen years ago, and he’s just carrying the torch. “There’s up to 3,000 people out there, homeless, on the streets. Every city has it. It’s weird because you don’t really see it all the time. I mean, you’ll see it occasionally on the street. What you don’t see is the women and children going from place to place, trying to get by. It’s kind of out of sight, out of mind.”

Naughton noted that people save up all year to donate. “Even with harder economic times, people have been extremely generous. Tucson is a very generous community, especially when it comes to those kinds of issues—women and children—trying to make it better, especially over the holidays.” In the summer, Naughton’s holds a “Chill Out” drive, donating hats and water to help people handle the blistering Arizona heat.

Naughton has given away products and services spontaneously as well. “In June we had a cooling system put in for a family that doesn’t have cooling,” Naughton continued. “One family I put a heating system in. They were living in a mobile (home) and had no heat. It blows you away when you hear these stories so it makes you feel good when you’re able to make a difference and help out.”

Ain’t that the truth?

PMI to the Rescue

When Robert Easter heard that a drought stricken town in Tennessee was down to three hours of water a day, he sprung into action. “I called the Mayor of Orme and said, ‘Look, I can get you four hours with just a simple meter I’m willing to donate.’” Easter is founder and CEO of H20 Guard, which produces said meter in Austin, Texas.

When the city council approved his offer, Easter decided to call his friends at the Plumbing Manufacturers Institute. “Everybody’s looking for something to do, and nobody’s doing it,” Easter said. “So I said, ‘look guys, we’ve got toilets, we’ve got showerheads, we’ve got meter controls that we make. Why don’t we put a package together?’ We thought we’d have fun with it.”

Easter solicited donations of showerheads and faucets from Delta, toilets from Gerber and volunteer PMI members, and brought them to Orme for a one-day NASCAR-themed “Race to Save Water.”

The results impressed everyone.

“The goal was to save 90 gallons of water a day per home,” Easter said. “It ended up being 140 gallons per home.” The gang of professionals was able to install new, quality appliances in every home in the town and eliminate age-old leaks. And while Easter promised the mayor an extra hour of water a day, that estimate was way off. “When they turned it on, they went from 6:00 at night to 6:00 in the morning. People were blown away.”

Sure, Easter admitted, it’s good for business, getting his product out there in the spotlight. But there was an even bigger payoff. “I guess the nucleus of the event was PMI folks coming together,” Easter said. “I knew we could do something that was really noticeable very quickly and it can be sustained. So that’s why we did it. And it was fun. I think everybody that was there got a general sense of being satisfied that they really did help people. And it was a good story to hear and see.”

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H2O Guard
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