Lafayette Parish -Â One local business teamed up with a local non-profit to give someone in the community a brand-new roof.
In south Louisiana, having a strong up-to-date roof is vitally important - especially during hurricane season.
For one local vet, he blessed the country with his service and now he was blessed with a new roof.
"We’re blessed to be in this situation, we’re blessed to be able to help somebody in need," said the owner of Lafayette Roofing Darren Domingue.
"It’s a privilege to be able to help people and to be able to give back," said AVA co-founder Levi Kastner.
Lafayette roofing in partnership with the Acadiana Veteran Alliance came together to install a brand-new roof for local military veteran, Murray Johnson.
"He had no clue what was coming when we showed up to measure his roof, he was speechless," said Domingue.
Lafayette roofing has been giving away a free roof every year for the past decade. Darren Domingue says when they were made aware of the state of Mr. Johnson’s roof, blessing him with a new one was a no brainer.
"After talking to him, we knew that this was a guy that wanted to work hard, he didn’t want a handout," Said Domingue. "We tried to tell him this is a helping hand and it’s our way to say thank for your service and fighting for our freedoms."
Unfortunately, Mr. Johnson was not home and when News 15 tried to give him a call, he was unavailable because like many veterans., he was working hard to provide for he and his family.
Domingue said "it wasn’t about having him here while we’re doing this. We just had Hurricane Ida. We know we’re in the midst of storm season. We wanted to get this done before something else worse happened to him. That way when he gets home, he can lay his head on his pillow and have a good night’s sleep."
The AVA is a local nonprofit aimed at assisting Acadiana veterans. Co-founder Levi Kastner who is a veteran himself says they’re all about leaving an impact on the lives of the men and women who fought to protect our freedoms.
"To impact change on those guys. A lot of those guys are going through mental health issues," Kastner said. "Anything we can do to position those guys to have a better future for them and their families is important to us."
With all the uncertainty over the past year-and-a-half, Billy Sauvely junior says one thing is always for certain.
"This is such an uncertain environment that we’re in lately and economically. So, the one certain thing that we do know is we can always give back," Sauvely Jr. said.
