Andrew Mitchell and his wife, Kisha Pinnock, decided to make the 22-hour trip from Morristown with their 2-year-old son, Blake, after hearing that local plumbers were overwhelmed with calls and that some customers had been unable to get help for weeks. Isaiah Pinnock, who is Kisha’s brother and Mitchell’s apprentice, went with them.
Before leaving New Jersey, they bought all the plumbing supplies they could, said Pinnock – because these items are currently difficult to find in Texas.
The group arrived in Houston, Texas, on Sunday afternoon. Pinnock’s sister, who lives in Houston, put them in contact with several people looking to hire plumbers. They quickly hired Mitchell’s Plumbing & Heating.
“When we got here, there were already about four or five of my sister’s planned jobs, and we just got them right first, and then everything after that was just referrals from early clients, like their friends and family.” Pinnock, who is a lawyer, said. “Since we’ve been here, it’s been really nonstop.”
Pinnock said her husband and brother had done about 13 jobs since they arrived, and that they have full days scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
Among those customers was Dedrick Dock, from Spring, Texas. He told CNN that he tried to send at least 15 plumbers to his home before hearing about Mitchell’s Plumbing and Heating on a friend’s neighbor’s social networks.
Dock and his family had been staying with relatives for more than a week because of a broken pipe in the garage.
“We had to move for more than a week because we needed to bring someone there,” he said. “And, of course, with the plumbers here, they were already overwhelmed with the work that was going on.”
The group had planned to return home next week, but has now said it will stay for about two weeks because it has received many calls from people who need its help.
“I think we made a difference, for sure,” said Pinnock.