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This Houston furniture store owner opened his doors to people seeking warmth in the winter storm

February 21, 2021. Summarized by summa-bot.

Compression ratio: 26.4%. 1 min read.

Vehicles driving on snow-covered Interstate 10 Monday, Feb. 15, 2021, in Houston. A winter storm making its way from the southern Plains to the Northeast is affecting air travel. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale opened one of his furniture stores as a shelter for Texas residents displaced by the winter storms.

The owner, Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale, opened one of his local stores as a shelter for Texas residents displaced by the winter storms.

During the three days the makeshift shelter was open this week, thousands of people came in for food and warmth and hundreds slept over, getting shut eye on furniture that his store will later sell at a discount, McIngvale said.

"He was serving food, handing out water, going around checking on people just like his employees and just like another person," said Jacy Wadhams, another Texas resident who sheltered at Gallery Furniture.

After the South Houston, Texas, hotel that Wadhams was staying at lost power, he and the other residents were asked to leave.

"When I looked up out of the bus and saw the sign for Gallery Furniture, it was such a relief," said Wadhams, who knew of "Mattress Mack's" reputation for helping the community after living in the area for 15 years.

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