Mark McClaugry knew that the roof on his almost 100-year-old Mchenry-Haus needed work, but the disabled veteran house also needs new windows and a kitchen renovation.
The marine and army veterinarian – it served in both branches – said that money was scarce for one of these repairs and was worried to save enough.
Rhett Wilborn and Courtney Wander wanted to do something for veterans and believed that their company, innovative home concepts, could help. For 20 years they have replaced windows, gutters, siding and roof in the Mchenry area.
“We had seen other roofers who replaced this and roofs” for US military veterans, said Wilborn. He and Wander then met with Dawn Bremer from the Bremer Team – Keller Williams Success Realty in Mchenry. They knew that Bremen worked together with non -profit groups throughout Mchenry County and possibly have suggestions on how to do something with their idea.
This conversation was born 30 days for 30 veterinarians. The program invites the residents across the area to nominate veterans who need help with their houses, e.g. B. the repair or the replacement of gutters, hot water, washers and dryers, ovens, kitchens and roofs. The recipients were announced in November.
The Bremer team and the volunteers collected more than $ 200,000 in materials, cash and factual points to pay the projects. In October the group called veterans to tell them that they were selected. The fulfillment of the work has been distributed over several months because the crews and donations are increased.
On Thursday, the team from innovative home concepts was together with Wilborn and hiking in McClaughry's house to solve its roof problem.
The crews pulled off the old shingles and found four layers – the original wooden shaking roof, which was covered by three asphalt shingles. The development was rotted in some places, including the steep gable of the house of the house.
Wilborn estimated that the roof would cost about 24,000 US dollars if the McClaugry family had to finance it itself.
“It's steep. There is lazy wood”, and the attic was never really ventilated, which made the roofing material wave over the years of moisture, heat and expansion, he said.
The house, a Mishmash of Craftsman style with a broken Cape Cod, was his mother and stepfather, said McClaughthry. They moved in in the 1980s when he was in the high school, and he also raised his four children there. McClaugry and his wife bought the house from his stepfather five years ago, and he is pretty sure that his stepfather did the last shingle layer 30 years ago.
McClaugry was not to be done on the steep roof. Due to injuries he suffered from the military, he is completely and permanently hindered.
McClaughry served in the Marine Corps from 1986 to 1992. He got out and went to school. Then he entered the army in 1994. He injured his back as he headed a radar unit against battery in Kuwait during the operation Desert Shield and left the service in spring 2001.
“I jumped up and down from a truck and stuck slices in my back,” said McClaghry.
It was his daughter Alexa, who nominated McClaughthry for the roof.
“My father spent his whole life back on something without ever asking something in return,” she wrote. “He often helps others work with household projects, event planning/building, personal difficulties, etc. Since he was 16, he has worked as a volunteer coach and mentor in the community and visited the Mchenry East campus.
“As a youth football coach, he started voluntarily in the Park District and has been in the coach of youth baseball and softball for 16 years, everything without payment.
Bremer and her team plan to open nominations on the 30daysfor30vets.com website for the next round of help in July to keep veterans' houses in top shape.
On Saturday, May 24th, Wilborn, hiking, innovative homeland concepts and their other business – Foxhole Pizza and Pub in 3308 W. Elm St. in Mchenry – organize a crawl to remember and to raise a toast on our heroes.
The Charity Pub Crawl will start at 3 p.m. and invites the participants to Mchenry's Riverside Drive Pubs and Restaurants: Foxhole, Whiskey Diablo, The Courthouse Tavern, Polish Legion of the American veterans after 188, Rita's Italian Eises, the old Bridge-Tavern and American legion. Registration can be made online at foxholetogo.com.
The fundraising campaign helps to cover the costs for the roof and the remaining proceeds are taken over to the 30 -for 30 program. A 50/50 raffle benefits the veteran path to hope.
In a separate initiative in the coming days to help those who have served, Sunrise Exterior Solutions, an Owens Corning Plating Roofing Contractor, will provide a new roof for another veteran in Mchenry as part of the Owens Corning Roof Operation Project.