SPRING, Texas – In a world full of bad news, it’s refreshing to meet someone like Josh Eubank.
The Spring, Texas man is about as regular as a Texas man can get. Hopping out of his pickup truck in work boots and a Carhart jacket, to the eye, he seems like just another guy.
But it’s what’s beyond the eye that makes Josh anything but a regular person.
On Friday, Josh made a simple post on Facebook, offering to help any elderly neighbors in his neighborhood of Spring insulate their pipes ahead of the big arctic blast coming Sunday evening.
Little did he know, that message would have his phone ringing and vibrating ever since he pushed “post.”
Gage: “So how do you come up with this idea?”
Josh Eubank: “To be honest with you. I don’t know, I like helping other people.”
That’s exactly how he spent his day, and will be spending his weekend.
Josh has a stockpile of pipe insulation that he picked up last year after a freeze came through Southeast Texas.
“So, we have a farm. When you have a farm, you have a lot of pipes, a lot of like a lot of water lines,” said Eubank. “Had a lot of supplies already sitting around. So, it wouldn’t do me no good sitting over there.”
Dozens upon dozens of senior citizens and disabled neighbors took Josh up on his offer.
On Friday alone, he insulated the pipes on five homes. He has a list of 40 more to go, and that list keeps on growing.
Thankfully, he’s picked up some help along the way.
“He wanted to go around helping people fix their faucet, the hose outside,” said Isa Hakem, who’s better known as the “Lemonade Guy.” “And I was like, you know what, I might as well close out my lemonade stand and come along and help him see who can help.”
Together they’ve been crisscrossing town to help make sure seniors, who wouldn’t have another way to protect their pipes, have a fighting chance against the frigid cold.
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“He’s a real trooper,” said Terry Barnes.
Barnes and his wife just bought a new manufactured home this past summer. It didn’t have an inch of insulation on the pipes. The disabled veteran has no way of getting under his trailer to make sure it’s protected.
“Well, I thought, when you get a new trailer. It would have been already done,” Barnes said.
But Josh crawled right underneath and got to work.
Gage: “So if it wasn’t for this guy, you might have had some burst pipes?”
Terry: “Probably would. Yes, sir.”
Across town and 90-years-young, Amalie “Molly” Hutchison needed her two outdoor spigots protected from the freeze.
“I think they’re great. They’re wonderful,” she said. “We’re lucky. Our neighborhood is the nicest.”
So, why would a random guy go out of his way, digging into his own pocket, to help his neighbors?
It’s not just his heart that drives Josh to help.
“Well, my uncle died because of the last freeze. He had pneumonia, and they weren’t able to get him the help that he needed because everything was froze over,” Eubank said. “You got people that are a lot older than us, you know, how many people they’ve helped in their lifetime. How can we repay them for that? By doing this.”
It’s that very thought that’s warming hearts across the region tonight. And has random strangers that can’t resist exchanging a hug for some help.
“Probably give him a hug. Tell him I love him for what he did,” Barnes said.
While Josh has some supplies, he’s running through them quickly. Luckily, some neighbors are catching wind of his generosity and keeping him going with donations.
There’s a lesson we all can take from people like Josh.
“I’ll tell you, if more people were like this, more people gave out to other people that help, I think this world would be a lot better place,” he said.