More than a business: Roofing acts of good

By Emma Peterson.

Four stories of roofers going above and beyond to support their communities.

One of our favorite things to highlight here at The Coffee Shops™ is the wonderful acts of kindness that are performed by roofers all over the industry. From donations and charity auctions to reroofing projects, there are so many incredible stories of the roofing industry working for good. Here are four stories of contractors putting some good back into their communities in the best way they know how — keeping them safe and dry under new roofs.

Fargo Roofing and Siding

Giving back is ingrained in Fargo Roofing and Siding's company culture. The North Dakota-based company hosts a program called “Roofs for Veterans” every year. The program accepts nominations in the month of July and partners with the local radio (107.9 The Fox) to select one veteran to receive a new roof. In 2024, Lt. Col. John Nolan was the veteran chosen.

John’s home desperately needed the new roof as the previous one was decades-old and beginning to leak. He shared with Valley News Live, “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this program. It’s unbelievable to me. The roof I am getting replaced was terrible and 25 years old, so this is absolutely great timing and I am very, very happy about it.”

Trademark Exteriors Restoration

Heading a few states South, we have another incredible story of giving back from Oklahoma City-based Trademark Exteriors Restoration. When a local family lost money to a contractor that never followed through on fixing their roof, they didn’t know what to do. But, within a few weeks of putting a call out for help, Trademark Exteriors Restoration stepped in to do their roof at no cost.   

The Trademark team told KFOR Oklahoma’s News 4 the story of how they heard about the family, “One of my customers who was watching the news, right after the news, she called me. She said, ‘You have to help this family.’” And that is exactly what the Trademark team did. They were able to redo the roof and even tackle the back patio and some major leaking issues in the primary bedroom. When asked about the other contractor, the team expressed their desire to prove that there are still plenty of good people in the industry, sharing, “Contractors like that kind damage reputation of all of us.”

Mighty Dog Roofing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdF7Vkj9wow

Our next story also features a lucky veteran, in this case, U.S. Army veteran Lawrence Halon. Lawrence’s home was one of many that was left damaged in the wake of a summer windstorm that swept through Missoula, Montana. When the weather had died down and he contacted his insurance, Lawrence found out that they were only going to cover a third of the costs and he didn’t know where the remaining money was going to come from.  

That’s where Mighty Dog Roofing came into the picture. The local contractor worked with Owens Corning to get the materials needed for the project and took their team out to install it, all free of charge. When asked about the project, Nick Whitehead, Mighty Dog Roofing’s owner, shared with KPAX-TV, “We always want to make sure we’re giving back out to the community helping veterans is especially a soft spot in our heart. We have four veterans that work for us, including myself, and we like to be able to take care of our veteran communities, especially older veterans that are retired on fix incomes.” For Lawrence, he could not be more grateful, saying, “This is probably the second-best thing that has happened to me in my life, the first being when I married my wife 57 years ago.”

Home Genius Exteriors

Over in Pennsylvania, another veteran’s home was recently reroofed free of charge. Raymond Webb, who served in the U.S. Army and his now late wife, who was also a veteran, moved into a Braddock home back in 2012. It had needed some work at the time that the couple got done with the help of Habitat for Humanity, but things on the roof had been progressively getting worse. Raymond described it to KDKA-TV, sharing, “It was getting to that point. I don't know if it make it through the winter without some severe damage.”  

Luckily, Home Genius Exteriors was able to partner with Owens Corning’s Roof Deployment Project, a national program that works to honor veterans and help them get new roofs, came to help him. The roof that they removed was over three decades old Raymond could not overstate how thankful he is for the crew’s hard work, sharing, “I can't put it into words. It's been a blessing. The grandkids and everyone will have a nice, sturdy house for whenever I’m gone and it's wonderful and I’m so blessed.”

Original photo source: KPAX-TV