Navy veteran in Tallahassee gifted a big-ticket home repair from nonprofit
“Thank you, God, and thank you, Tadlock Roofing,” says a man whose wishes were granted Monday after he received the gift of a new roof installation for his family’s home.
Josh Kish, a U.S. Navy veteran who served as an Operations Specialist from 1999 to 2003, had been saving up for a new roof which can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000, which Kish described as a hopeless effort sometimes despite the urgency.
After hearing about constant leaks in the kitchen and into the outlets, a coworker of Kish’s at the Florida Department of State submitted his name to the Purple Heart Homes — a nonprofit organization that, according to its website, “builds or modifies homes, and gifts them, mortgage-free, to injured veterans and their families” — in hopes the family of four would be receive the replacement.
Water damage can be one of the most urgent indicators of a need for a full roof replacement. If ignored, the damage can attract pests and encourage mold to grow and fester within the home.
After undergoing the vetting process, Kish received a call at work from Tadlock Roofing, a Tallahassee family-owned roofing business that has been named one of America’s Top 100 Roofer by Roofing Contractor magazine for the past seven consecutive years, that he was chosen as this year’s recipient for a free roof installation. Kish and his wife got to pick out their roof shingles, colors and more.
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Kish shares that veterans like himself, “don’t like to ask for help a lot of the time,” but who are grateful for initiatives like the Owens Corning Roof Deployment Project that offers a helping hand by connecting contractors with military families to deliver and install a new roof at no cost in hopes of alleviating the daily stressors military families face.
Since 2016, Owens Corning has given 450 military families the support they need to have their homes repaired.
“It’s nice to have companies that go out and take care of them (veterans) for things they don’t really want to ask for,” or things they don’t think they can ask for,” Kish said.
The Tadlock Roofing crew of six showed up bright and early Monday morning in their dark blue shirts, khaki pants, and baseball caps to begin the project, working diligently under overcast skies to get ahead of an expected downpour that threatened their timeline of finishing early that afternoon.
“A home is the most important thing for a family,” said Thomas Catalano, branch manager for Tadlock Roofing. “Everybody deserves a home. Everybody deserves a roof over their head that doesn’t leak.”
Through its partnership with Owens Corning Roof Deployment Project, which provided the roofing materials, and Purple Hearts Home, for leading them to the Kish family, Catalano said they were able to provide free labor as part of their goal of “giving back to those who served” and providing a new roof for a house in need each year.
Kish said the money he and his wife had been saving for the repair can now go toward the education of their children, ages 16 and 8.
Tadlock Roofing proved to Kish that the acts of kindness he found to be a “lost art” in society still exists within the Tallahassee community.
Democrat writer, Kyla A. Sanford can be reached at ksanford@gannnett.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: U.S. Navy veteran in Tallahassee gifted with new roof
