Purple Heart Homes Replace Leaky Roof for Navy Veteran

By Evelyn Witterholt. 

Ohio veteran is thanked for his life-long service efforts by getting his old roof fixed free of charge. 

Dennis Payne, 70, is a U.S. Navy veteran who served during the Vietnam War on the board of a tanker. But his service to our country doesn’t stop there. Dennis is also an honor guard who does funeral services for other veterans. When the veteran’s roof was showing signs of damage, he was worried about how he would go about fixing it. 

“It was starting to deteriorate real bad and I kept watching it and watching it. Finally, I said ‘I think we going to need a roof,’” Dennis told Fox 8 Ohio. Being on a fixed income had him worried that he could not afford to replace it.  

One day, Dennis confided in veteran John Keating about his roof at the VFW post. Unbeknownst to him, Keating is the president of the local chapter of Purple Heart Homes, an organization that provides quality of life solutions to veterans. “It’s time somebody did something for Dennis and I couldn’t have picked a nicer guy,” John Keating told Fox 8 Ohio. 

Purple Heart Homes sent a crew from Legacy Roofing over to Dennis’s house to remove his old shingles and replace his roof. Owens Corning donated materials for his new roof through their Roof Deployment project. 

The project is Owens Corning’s way of giving back to veterans for their service by donating materials and labors for roof repairs and replacements. Since the start of the program in 2016, over 275 veterans have had their roofs fixed. “Our veterans need to be thanked. We need to be doing more for our veterans out there today and I don’t think we do enough, so every little bit helps,” said Owens Corning Sr. Sales Manager Patrick Main. 

When Dennis got his new roof installed, a major weight was lifted off his shoulders. He told Fox 8 Ohio, “What a relief off my brain. It’s a big relief.” 

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About Evelyn 

Evelyn works as a writer for RoofersCoffeeShop and AskARoofer. When she isn’t writing about roofing, she’s either at the gym lifting weights or curled up on the couch watching a movie. 

Photo credit: Fox 8 Ohio