Guess Who DryHome Chose for Its Annual Roof Giveaway; She's from Leesburg

Leesburg resident and social worker Janice Coe was the winner of Sterling-based DryHome Roofing and Siding’s annual “Free Roof for the Holidays” program. Coe is a very fitting winner, since she helps others in need.

Coe was featured in a Washington Post article last year about how she helped find a home for a young woman, a toddler and newborn who had been sleeping at the New Carrollton Metro station. Coe helped the woman and her children travel to Loudoun; she also paid for a hotel for them. She also put the woman in touch with Loudoun County’s Department of Family Services, which helped her sign up for food stamps and assisted in finding subsidized housing for the family.

DryHome calls for nominations each year from the community for an individual, family or nonprofit in need. Nominators describe why the person deserves a new roof based on need, condition of existing roof and impact on the community.

“Janice is an extraordinary person whose generosity has saved and changed lives,” DryHome president Steve Gotschi said. “Recently unemployed, she now finds herself in need of help as she struggles to maintain her home. We are honored to be able to give her the gift of a new roof and ease her burden this holiday season.”

Coe’s kindness toward the woman she helped, her family and many others inspired more than a dozen neighbors and friends to nominate Coe for the free roof. Here are some of their comments:

• “She has been exemplary in being there for the less fortunate, not only by giving to the homeless but taking them into her home often for weeks or months at a time when the shelters were full. Janice has worked in the jails and generally doing good deeds for friends, neighbors and strangers. Living her life by example, Janice shows what it is to be a giving and loving individual. Unfortunately Janice has come upon hard times.  She is not employed and her home is in need of a new roof.” Warren Grossman
• “Janice Coe has advocated for the homeless and in some cases, she's taken homeless persons (and families) into her home while searching for housing and other needed services. Often times, providing food and shelter at her own expense. I am nominating her so that she can continue to advocate for the homeless and provide refuge out of her own home when called upon.” Beatrice Malone

The “Free Roof for the Holidays” program enables DryHome, which has served Northern Virginia for more than 25 years, to thank its customers and the community by helping those who are struggling to have a safe roof over their heads too.