The family business was decimated by the Palisades fire. Most of their customers also lost their homes.
The family lost theirs the whole plumbing joband the community they served, from the harrowing wildfires in California.
Palisades Plumbing’s building, trucks and most of their clients’ homes were gone, but the owners didn’t lose their will to keep going. They ask that the surrounding communities know that they are ready to work.
“We just want business,” Palisades Plumbing co-owner Mandy Church told FOX Business. “My boys have to get paid. You know? We have to survive.”
Mandy Church and her husband Ray Church struggled to make ends meet after moving to the United States in 1985. They were fighting racism while Ray Church was trying to find work as a plumber. He eventually got a job at Palisades Plumbing, a company they eventually took over in 2007.
CALIFORNIA FAMILY LOSES JOBS IN FIRE: A PLACE THAT ‘CONFUSED PEOPLE’
It was a family business that soon became their second home. Ghey doesn’t want to lose him without a fight.
“I need exposure. I need people to know we’re here and we need help,” said Mandy Church.
Palisades Plumbing, a business that was destroyed in the Palisades fire. (Shavahn Ahmadi)
On Wednesday morning, Ray Church, his daughter Shavahn Ahmadi and Shavahn’s husband Obai Ahmadi, who also worked there, were the first to witness the devastation left by the Palisades fire.
“We were very hopeful that the business would still be there … as soon as we started walking and saw the trucks completely burnt. We were just devastated,” said Shavahn Ahmadi.
Shavahn Ahmadi explained that it was not just a place where she and her husband worked. It was the place where their children grew up.
“We literally made our office a home. I had cribs in there. I had mats for the kids to lay on the high chairs, toys, anything you can imagine for a child to be in the office.”
CALIFORNIA FIRES: INSURED LOSSES COULD EXCEED $30 BILLION, WELLS FARGO ANALYSIS CONFIRMS
A before and after shot of Palisades Plumbing before it was destroyed in the Palisades Fire. (Shavahn Ahmadi)
Mandy Church and Shavahn Ahmadi aren’t just worried about their lives. Their four hard-working employees also come first.
“They have kids and families to take care of and we took care of them. We worked together as a family,” Mandy Church said. “I brought them here to cry. I feel terrible.”
She estimated that they could pay them for about a month before the funds run out.
CLICK HERE TO SET FOX BUSINESS IN CRETE
Palisades Plumbing, a business that was destroyed in the Palisades fire. (Shavahn Ahmadi)
Mandy Church is particularly worried about some of her older workers, saying the new “plumbing company, if they’re forced to start over, they’re going to send them all over the place. They’re going to work 12-hour days. My guys work 8 to 4.”
Before the fires decimated their building, Mandy Church explained that they typically served clients in the Palisades, although they also reached out to other communities such as Brentwood, Santa Monica and Malibu.
Now they want to expand to Calabasas, Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Encino, Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Culver City, Santa Monica, Malibu, Westwood, Brentwood, the entire San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita and Thousand Oaks.
They also plan to serve the Palisades again when it reopens.
