SRS Distribution’s Raise the Roof Foundation Participating in the Largest Giving Day in the Country

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor. 

North Texas Giving Day is set for Thursday, September 17 and the SRS Raise the Roof Foundation is encouraging the roofing industry to participate. 

If you have been to the International Roofing Expo (IRE), you most likely attended an SRS Raise the Roof Foundation fundraising event. They hold concerts and other events that raise funds for their foundation. (Remember this past February when Journey performed in Dallas?) They know how to raise money. They also know how to give back. Foundation Executive Director Mikell Bollinger, shared “Since 2012, we have raised and donated over $5 million dollars and partnered with more than 30 nonprofits that provide services and programs for the causes we support.”  

Funds are raised through a variety of sources including events at the IRE, from donations received from SRS Distribution, vendors, customers and employees. “We focus on helping communities in three main areas – veterans and their families, disaster relief efforts and local community assistance,” explained Mikell. “The community assistance is in the form of support for children and families in crisis, for example those who are transitioning out of homelessness, or children suffering from abuse or neglect. We’ve been heavily involved in CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) and some of our employees have become trained volunteers to be the voice for those children.”     

Raise the Roof has supported many veteran initiatives, including Luke’s Wings, an organization that provides free flights for veterans who need hospitalization, rehab services or hospice care. They will also fly their families to their bedsides for much-needed support. Other veteran initiatives include organizations that provide mental health support, suicide prevention efforts, leadership training and even service dogs for veterans. They have just recently sponsored a new veteran service dog team pairing a vet with disabilities with their assistance dog.  

Disaster relief efforts are currently underway in Louisiana with two of the foundation’s disaster relief partners providing recovery services and assistance to the communities affected by Hurricane Laura. The foundation provided similar assistance to the coastal Texas communities that were so badly ravaged by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.  

This is the second year that Raise the Roof Foundation has participated in North Texas Giving Day in an effort to raise funds for the causes that they support. In 2019, they were able to raise over $14,000. “We are in the early giving period currently and have raised more at this point than we did this time last year,” said Mikell. 

Mikell explained that North Texas Giving Day is the largest giving event in the entire country, raising $50 million dollars in 2019 from 170,000 donors and supporting close to 3000 nonprofits. “It’s run by the Communities Foundation of Texas and nonprofits sign up to participate. Once registered, we begin encouraging supporters to contribute.”   

“One of the things that is great is not only do we get the donations from donors, but a number of large private foundations and corporations that are headquartered it the Dallas-Fort Worth area and in the larger cities in Texas contribute funds to a bonus pool. Participating nonprofits also get a portion of the bonus funds.”  

In addition to the bonus pool, Raise the Roof Foundation has a very generous board member who has put up a challenge, offering to match dollar for dollar every donation received up to a certain threshold.  

Giving Day opens at 6 am on Thursday, September 17 and lasts until midnight. Visit Raise the Roof’s donation page here.  

Learn more about SRS and Raise the Roof in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory.