What Do You Get a 111-Year-Old Army Veteran?

By Lauren White, RCS Assistant Editor.

Lawrence Brooks received the best birthday gift of all, a new roof.

The oldest-known United States World War II veteran turned 111 in September!  On his birthday, Lawrence Brooks “received more than 10,000 cards, a salute from a squadron of aircraft and a happy birthday call from Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards,” reported Katy Reckdahl with Nola.com.

During their conversation, the governor thanked Lawrence for his service in the Army and inquired about his big birthday.  Towards the end of the call, the governor told Lawrence to reach out if there was anything he needed.  That’s when Vanessa Brooks heard her father say, “Yeah, man, my roof is leaking.”

Just two hours later, someone was knocking on the door of the home Vanessa shares with her father, ready to replace the leaky roof.  And a few days later, Kavin Griffin of the Central South Carpenters Regional Council was at the house, standing next to a trash bin full of rotten roofing material that came off of Lawrence’s roof.

The council bought nearly $10,000 in new materials to fix Lawrence’s roof.  Union members from Local 1098 in Baton Rouge and Local 1846 in New Orleans volunteered to reframe and shingle the roof.  “Mr. Brooks won’t have to worry about a roof anymore,” Kavin said.

Hurricane Katrina initially damaged the roof in 2005.  When the storm had passed, Vanessa searched for months to find someone to repair the roof.  She finally found someone, but the contractor’s work was shoddy, which resulted in the first leaks.  Vanessa now knows that “the contractor...did inferior work,” she said.

The integrity of the roof only worsened after she signed a contract to have solar panels installed on the back roof.  The weight of the panels caused the roof to sag, which resulted in the walls and ceilings cracking inside.  Vanessa asked the solar contractor to remove the panels, but he failed to seal the holes from the installation.  After that, water started pouring into the walls on both sides of the house.  “That’s when I knew we had a real problem,” Vanessa said.  The ceiling above Lawrence’s bed was spotting, as well as the walls of his bedroom and bathroom.  When Kavin inspected the roof, he was able to fit his hand in the gap between the main house’s roof and the roof on the rear addition, it was that big.

Vanessa worried about mold growth and the ceiling collapsing, but her and her father couldn’t afford the repairs even if they combined their incomes.  Looking for help, she called different charities around town and put her name on long lists for repairs, but came up empty handed and feeling helpless.  “I reached a lot of entities; they didn’t get back to me,” she said.   

With the cost of living and property taxes increasing in the New Orleans area, “longtime homeowners are financially stretched to the point where they cannot make repairs,” shared Andreanecia Morris, head of Housing NOLA.  And the local government’s owner-occupied rehabilitation program is consistently overwhelmed with applications she said.

For the past several years, Vanessa has exhausted her resources searching for anyone to repair their leaky roof.  Thanks to the governor’s help and the volunteer union members, Vanessa and her father will be protected under their new roof without having to worry about water pouring down the walls or mold growing in their home.  “Maybe it was that my daddy had to be the one to ask,” Vanessa shared.  Lawrence is sure to remember his 111th birthday for more reasons than one!

Do you know of someone in the industry who is ‘doing good deeds’ in their community? Help us catch them at it. Send news and information to info@rooferscoffeeshop.com.