What’s Good: 20-year army veteran from Dowagiac gifted new roof

DOWGIAC, Mich. (WNDU) - We’re looking at What’s Good as we look forward to Veteran’s Day.

Owens Corning Roof Deployment Project has given back to more than 375 veterans since 2016 by reroofing their homes, free of charge.

Their latest recipient lives in Dowagiac.

Rebecca Johnson served in the army for more than two decades and she says she’s never gotten a thank you for her service like this.

A new roof that she didn’t think she could afford with the cold months closing in is something she no longer has to worry about.

“This is wild. Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving back.”

Those are Johnson’s words to the roofers who are fixing this problem that’s been getting worse and worse.

“And it was just a little leak. All of this, with the rain we had in the last month, just for September, it really wiped it out,” said new roof recipient Rebecca Johnson.

Johnson says those rains regularly filled up these buckets with the water that’s come through the roof. She said a squirrel even came through the hole at one point.

Had this new roof not come in when it did, Johnson could have been in for a much chillier Michigan winter.

“She probably wouldn’t have been able to make it through this winter and live in the house if we hadn’t jumped in and got this done,” said West Michigan Roofing Owner Michael Megna.

Johnson served in the army for more than 20 years. Her heart for helping is one of the reasons she said she ran out of money and hope for a new roof.

“I had family members and some friends who were in need when I first got out because I had a little bit of savings. I try to help everybody. If I see someone that I could help, I would help them,” Johnson said.

She did that by serving our country and continues to do that by lending a helping hand to family and neighbors. Now those efforts are being recognized by covering what Johnson says would have been a $6,500 job at the cheapest.

“This is just a small token of something we can do to help veterans who’ve served our country and done so much for us. I’ve had a lot of my family who’ve been in the military over the years. We feel real strongly about this program and being able to help,” Megna said.

West Michigan Roofing, Harbor Habitat for Humanity, and Owens Corning all came together to pull off the replacement in just one day.

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