Mr. Torres nominated himself in one of our earlier programs but was not chosen as a finalist. He then saw the opportunity to apply again with hopes to get picked as a finalist. So he then nominated himself again through our No Roof Left Behind page. This time around he came with more to his story. His wife has been ill for a couple years and hasn’t been able to work, so it got tuff trying to keep up with everything in the house. Her health detreated severely and she was placed in a rehabilitation center. His goal then became to get the house back in shape so she can come home.
The Torres family has lived in the house for over 20 years and raised their 3 beautiful children in it. Their house was built in the 1930’s and was a one of a kind custom home in Hollywood. The original barrel tile roof was blown off during hurricane Andrew in 1992. The roof that was put on afterwards has needed to be replaced for several years now. The Torres family has tried to do roof repairs themselves but it had proved to be too big of a challenge for them. Due to Mr. Torres wife’s long stretch of unemployment due to her illness and his job as a Broward County teacher their funds are very limited to pay for repairs.
As we started to work on the roof Earl W. Johnston Roofing, LLC came across more problems other than the roof itself. Due to the deteriorated condition of the roof, each time the rainstorms came the inside of the home was damaged further. Our crew had to replace over 2,000 feet of rotten lumber. They also came across a huge bee infestation in the roof and the walls. We enlisted the help of many sponsors including Willie the Bee Man who came out and donated his bee removal services, as he calls them “free bees”.
Mr. and Mrs. Torres had the support of their whole family throughout the voting period along with Mr. Torres’s “family” at Indian Ridge Middle School where he is a teacher. They were on every social media page blasting to vote for their father, family member, teacher, and or co-worker. It was a very close race as always. Every time The Torres family would get some votes another contestant would get a couple more which kept them neck and neck. The last week of voting became very stressful for the families as they found out no percentages would be shown on the No Roof Left Behind site. But the Torres family pulled through and kept a strong lead.
On April 15, 2015 we announced that the Torres family had won. Mr. Torres was extremely excited and lost for words. The process leading up to the installation celebration got more exciting as the day got closer. We received a lot of sponsors from different companies such as ABC Supply, GAF, Bank United, JGA Beacon, 84 Lumber, “Willie the Bee Man”, etc. Without these companies along with No Roof Left Behind none of this would’ve been possible.
And then May 2, 2015 came, our Installation Celebration day for the Torres family. It was such an amazing day for us. The Torres family invited their friends, family, and co-workers to the event. The Ticket radio station brought their van and wheel of prizes. The family was so grateful for everything that we did it was heartwarming. It was an emotional day for all but turned out a great success knowing we touched lives of our fellow community by helping a family in need and we wouldn’t have wanted it to turn out any other way. Thank you Torres family for being so wonderful!
Please watch the video from our Installation Celebration!
