Thanks to a family business, a veteran in Copley received a new roof for free on Monday.
Jared Bzdock served in the U.S. Air Force for six years. He served two tours in Iraq on search and rescue missions for those in combat.
After serving his country, Bzdock wanted to settle down in a familiar place and start a family. So he and his wife Anita found a house in Copley.
The couple had the roof replaced five years ago, but Bzdock said it was soft, and shingles were falling off. But at a lunch with his local Veterans' Association, Bzdock met Tara Colopy, who is the CEO of Third Estimate Corporation, which is a contracting company out of Solon.
Bzdock learned that the company has a program called the Third Patriot Project, which provides a free roof to one or two veterans per year. He put in an application and was selected.
"Like who does that? So who, who gets a new roof for free?" Bzdock said. "Most people think of roof as just, oh, it's just a roof. but no, it's like somebody handing you $20,000 like it's amazing."
Bzdock was so grateful for all the work on his home and other veterans' homes, he had a surprise for Colopy: a bottle of bourbon from a distillery founded by Horse Soldiers deployed in Afghanistan in the days after 9/11.
