NEW HARTFORD, Conn. — The Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors (PHCC) Connecticut chapter provided a wife of a National Guardsman serving in Kuwait with a “warm-hearted” gift: the free installation of a new boiler.

After a leak in the old boiler flooded the basement of Robert and Frances Slater on April 5, both Slaters spent the week arranging — both in the U.S. and Kuwait — to have it repaired. Mrs. Slater hired Walt Woycik (W.J. Woycik Plumbing & Heating, Mystic, Conn.) to install the boiler at a cost of up to $5,000.

Little did she know that seven representatives of the Southeast PHCC would join forces to install a new boiler for free.

At the end of the job, Mrs. Slater received a “paid in full” PHCC certificate. “Your husband, he’s serving his country,” Southeast Connecticut chapter president Mark Fernandez explained, “and we love the opportunity to give back.”

The project was a team effort, according to the association. Woycik organized the project; Shetucket Plumbing Supply, Groton, Conn., and manufacturer Burnham Co., Lancaster, Pa., split the $2,400 list price for the boiler and parts; and PHCC Connecticut members Paul Currie, Steven Long, Cris Kerfus, Carl Smith, Richard Garcione, and Jim Brown volunteered their time for the project.

Woycik stated that Currie, Fernandez, and Brown have been talking about taking on a project like this since they attended the PHCC Leadership Conference.

Publication date: 05/26/2003