Pleasant surprise for West Kelowna couple with flooded basement

Imagine waking up to see your basement flooded with sewage.

To make matters worse, it’s two days before Christmas.

That was the reality for Apryl Stead, her partner and two kids. As they were busily preparing for Christmas day, the main sewer of their house plugged up, causing a pool of sewage to spew across their basement.

“It was absolutely crazy. We were looking at everything, we hadn’t done laundry for days because we couldn’t use the water in the house, the basement was just backed up completely and black on the carpet,” says Stead.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It was absolutely crazy. We were looking at everything, we hadn't done laundry for days because we couldn't use the water in the house, the basement was just backed up completely and black on the carpet," says Stead.

It happened after an expensive month for the couple due to some unforeseen expenses.

“They had some other expenses this month. Two cars broke down, snow tires for both cars, dishwasher broke, everything just seemed to be going wrong for them right at Christmas,” says Jason Melenchuk with Mr.Rooter Plumping.

That’s why Melenchuk and his West Kelowna plumbing company decided to help the family of four out when they heard of the situation.

“We went out and did the service for free. We surprised them at the end, our family came along, staff members, technicians, it was really good,” says Melenchuk.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We went out and did the service for free. We surprised them at the end, our family came along, staff members, technicians, it was really good," says Melenchuk.

With the basement now clean, there was room for a different kind of flow.

“The house was flooded with people they came wearing Santa hats and elf hats,” says Stead.

“It was like a Christmas Miracle for us…to have all of that happen and to have that extra expense at Christmas with everything else.”

This was one of two families the plumbing company surprised with a free service this holiday season as part of its Let it Flow campaign.

“It was pretty amazing actually. Everybody in the room pretty much started crying,” says Melenchuk.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It was pretty amazing actually. Everybody in the room pretty much started crying," says Melenchuk.

While it’s the first time his branch took part in the campaign, Melenchuk says it won’t be the last.

“Especially being a business, they support us through the year, they support our staff and families so it’s nice to be able to give back as a business.”