In what its owners intend to become the start of an annual tradition, a local contractor is offering to replace the roof of the home of a DeLand-area veteran or first responder. Beery Roofing & Redesign LLC is conducting the contest, in which DeLandites may nominate a former or active-duty military veteran or a police officer, firefighter or medical-rescue person for the honor.
“This is our first time doing this,” Brenda Beery, the company’s office manager and wife of the owner, Sean Beery, told The Beacon. “People can nominate a veteran or first responder. They can nominate themselves.”
A new shingle roof is a big-ticket outlay, whose cost may be in the $12,000-$15,000 range.
The nomination form is on the company’s website, www.beeryroofing.com.
Because the idea is a new one for them, Beery said she and Sean are actually making up the rules of the contest as time goes by — and time is going by quickly. The couple are seeking nominations of veterans and first responders now through Dec. 20. They do not know how many nominations/applications they may receive.
“Close to 10,” Brenda Beery said, when asked Dec. 1 how many entries she has received thus far.
One of the portions of the online application is a statement about the person being nominated and why he/she should be the winner. If there are a large number of entries, Brenda Beery noted, she and Sean may winnow the entries to a few finalists and “then put the names in a hat and draw the winner.”
Or, she added, the couple may let their Facebook audience decide who should receive the new roof.
“It’s definitely going to happen. The winner will be announced Christmas Eve. We’re going to try to put the roof on in January,” she said.
The replacement roof will be a shingle roof, Sean Beery said.
The rules of the contest are fairly simple :
— The winner must live within or very close to the DeLand city limits.
— The winner must actually live in the home on which the new roof will be installed. A new roof will not be placed on a rental home or an investment home.
— The size of the home to be re-roofed must be no larger than 3,000 square feet.
— The winner must agree to share his/her story on Facebook and in other media.
Sean Beery said he had some prior experience with this sort of contest a few years ago. In 2013, he said, an Orange City roofing contractor for whom he worked gave away two new roofs to veterans.
Beery himself is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, the name given to the 1991 Gulf War. He said he served in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, one of the first units to be deployed in 1990 for the ground offensive against Iraq.
“If this goes well, we’ll see if we can get help from our suppliers,” he added, perhaps enabling his company to have a bigger contest next year.
