Having your furnace break during the winter when there’s a snowstorm on the way sounds like a real nightmare. But when you have a newborn baby too – it’s on another level.
That’s exactly what happened to one set of parents from the Midwest.
When Jesse and Maria Hulscher from Willmar, Minnesota, noticed that their furnace had stopped working right after their son Adler was born, they were frantic as they tried to get it fixed as soon as possible.
It was Feb. 23, and with a storm forecast, Dad Jesse knew that time was of the essence.
“Instantly I panicked,” Jesse told FOX 9. “I have a two-year-old here, a newborn coming home in a couple of days and this was before the big potential snowstorm.”
Maria wasn’t home from the hospital yet with their new baby – so Jesse jumped into action to try and get the problem fixed.
He phoned up a local business, Magnuson Sheet Metal, hoping for a quick and inexpensive fix.
With his excitement about the new baby coupled with his fears about the snowstorm, Jesse couldn’t hold back his emotions as he told the man on the phone about his situation.
“He said ‘The fan’s not working, the furnace isn’t working, my wife is in the hospital, we just had a baby yesterday,’” Magnuson co-owner Craig Aurand recalled. “I just said take it easy, we’ll be right there.”
That very same morning, Magnuson sent out a worker to fix the furnace, and within an hour everything was working as normal again.
Both Jesse and Maria breathed a sigh of relief. Now all that was left to take care of was the bill.
But when the invoice came in the mail, the couple was in for a surprise!
“I opened it up and looked at the receipt and it said, ‘No charge, take care of the new baby,’” Jesse recalled. “I was like, what? No. This can’t be real. And he’s like, ‘I know I can’t believe it either,’” Maria said.
Jesse and Maria were blown away by the small business’ act of kindness and decided to share the invoice on Jesse’s Facebook page as a way to thank them…
Within days it had blown up, and the post now has over 4k reactions as well as hundreds of shares.
“Can’t thank them enough for the great service, speedy response time, and amazing technicians. Businesses like this earn customers for life!” Jesse said in his post.
Despite all of the positive press, the owners of Magnuson Sheet Metal remain humble about their kindness.
“We didn’t do it for the PR, we just did it to be good people. That’s it. Just to be nice to these people,” Craig said. “That’s what this is about.”
Isn’t this such a heartwarming story? If there’s anything the world needs, it’s more acts of kindness.
Watch the video below to see an interview with the very grateful parents!