Roofing company donates work to homeless Jackson man

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - A man who is, for all intents and purposes, homeless, is closer to changing that status.

It is thanks to the efforts of a group called Shower Power and the generosity of a roofing company, appropriately named Strength, because they are Mississippi Strong.

“This will do wonders for the spirit,” said Medgar Evers May.

May is talking about the new roof that has just gone up on a house he’s been paying taxes on for years now. It is located on St. Louis Street in Jackson, but it is in such horrible shape, he can’t live there. His late mother and brother had lived there before.

The roof had to be replaced before anything else could be repaired. Brooks Strength Roofing and Siding was contacted after a social media call for help by the Shower Power people.

Brooks Strength said, “Here’s an opportunity to give back to the community and so I jumped on it instantly. And I talked to Mary Ann and said that was holding up the progress was the roof so, you know, as busy as we are, I squeezed them in as quickly as I could to get this taken care of.”

But Strength quickly learned there would be more to it than just replacing a roof.

He said, “Yesterday, when we came over here to look, you know, I looked from the inside with a flashlight and really didn’t get to see how bad it was until we pulled it off, so once we pulled it off, there was some rotten rafters and, you know, I didn’t feel comfortable just putting the roof on what was there, so we ended up putting all new decking on the entire roof with good synthetic felt. We couldn’t do this without our partners Owens-Corning, you know, to help with the materials and the supply house at Advance Roof and Supplies. We’re very fortunate that it’s a group effort and I got my, one of my main crews here that help me do this and he’s donated some of his time too, so it is a big group effort.”

Medgar Evers May was stunned by that group effort.

“No real words to it, how it makes you feel, because, without them doing this, it would’ve been a struggle,” said May.

Brooks Strength said, “Man, you know, it’s a good feeling and I got some good people behind me, you know, all my crew and my whole company. You know, we’re in a position to give back to the community and we do that, you know, I don’t do that for the news spot, you know, I had no idea that any of this was gonna happen. I do it just from the goodness of my heart.”

May is in his mid-50′s. He has been a frequent customer of the Shower Power truck and meals there. He has been sleeping on a bench at the Planetarium in downtown Jackson. But there’s still much more to be done before he can get off the bench and into his home. There are plumbing and electrical issues - hurdles his friends at Shower Power say will not get in the way of Medgar Evers May getting off the streets and into his own home.

Medgar Evers May said, “You know, thanks is just not enough, because, you know, those guys got here and in two days, they knocked it out.”

There is a GoFundMe account called Inherited Home-Medgar set up for Mr. May.

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