Spirit of giving: Bound Brook plumber repairs family’s heat for free

The upcoming holiday season often comes with toy drives, turkey giveaways and big charity efforts. But sometimes the most touching stories can be just one person spontaneously deciding to help another.
Homeowners often know that things can break at the worst time. Ana Navarro’s family knows this all too well. The boiler of the family’s Bound Brook home has broken. Navarro lives in the home with her father, husband and two children.
The family has no heat and little money to fix the problem. Navarro’s father Cesar is retired and on a fixed income. She only works part-time from home because of the pandemic. Her husband’s truck driver pay is the only full-time salary.
In steps Bound Brook plumber Jeff Burke. Burke offers financing, but the family didn’t qualify. He also offered to give them a break on the installation price, but it was still too expensive. And then it hit him.
“I’m riding to work one day and I go, ‘You know, we’ve been so busy and so blessed. God put it on my heart – do it for nothing,’” Burke says.
Burke and his crew from Jeffery P. Burke Plumbing and Heating came by the family’s home Friday morning to install the new boiler for free. Burke says that sometimes it’s not all about the money.
“We’re very touched because we don’t see this. We’ve checked different places trying to find a lower price, but no,” Navarro says.
The spirit of giving, the urge to help that struck Burke – it turns out to be contagious. Burke says that his supplier, the owner of Aaron and Company in Piscataway, gave Burke the boiler for free as well.
“And he said, ‘We’re going to donate the boiler too, so you don’t have to pay the $2,500.’ Which is cool,” Burke says.
“Thank you so much, mi amigo,” Navarro told Burke.
This is quite the change from the last time the Navarros had a big plumbing job. They received an estimate of $600 for a repair and wound up paying $3,000, and the problem still wasn’t fixed.
“People take advantage of us. That’s why I met with them, because I was so desperate,” Navarro says.
Burke’s company may be restoring the family’s faith in humanity, in addition to restoring their heat.