A Coast Guard veteran in Fairhope got a new roof at no cost

Coast Guard veteran John Joyce got a new roof on his Fairhope house at no cost, FOX10 reported on October 19, 2026. Alpha and Omega Construction started the work Monday morning. The materials and the program came through Owens Corning's Roof Deployment Project, and Joyce was chosen with help from Purple Heart Homes. Since that program began in 2016, more than 850 military families have received roofs.

A tree took the old roof out. Justin Matthews, who owns the construction company, said Ecumenical Ministries in Fairhope had called about Joyce, and that straight-line winds six or eight weeks earlier dropped a tree, roughly three or four feet across, into the bedroom. Joyce and his wife were watching a movie in the living room when it hit. He told the station he had given up on donations and expected a second mortgage. After the new roof went on, later thunderstorms left the house dry. Matthews said the job was a way to meet a veteran who needed a repair, not a ceremony.