[van id=”us/2017/08/30/jim-mcingvale-mattress-stores-shelter-berman-intv-ac.cnn”]
Mattress Mack joined WLS-AM 890’s Ramblin’ Ray
Jim McIngvale — known as “Mattress Mack” — tells CNN’s John Berman that he is giving people shelter from the storm by letting people take refuge in his two furniture stores.
David and Maria Parks sit for hours on a sofa, intently watching news footage of flooding in Houston. This couch is the only place they have left to go for now.
The Parks and about 300 other evacuees are taking refuge in the 160,000-square-foot showroom of the Gallery Furniture store just outside of Houston. The store’s entrance is filled with neatly folded towels, shoes, clothes and toys donated by locals.
Owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale is known throughout the Houston area not only for his zany commercials but his generosity.
He tells CNN that he and his team took delivery trucks “that can get through the high water really easily” out to make rescues.
“All day on Sunday we went around rescuing people out of high water stranded on overpasses. We brought about 200 people into the store that way,” McIngvale says.
The Gallery Furniture store’s Grand Parkway location is listed as an official shelter location.
The Parks came to the store early Tuesday morning after a boat driven by good Samaritans picked them up from their home. Friends posted messages to rescue them on social media. Hours later, they arrived in the store’s showroom.
