PHOENIX — Rachel Mendoza has one heck of a neighbor, and his kindness is helping to change her life.
Two weeks ago, Darrell Shepherd thought of her when he saw a Sonoran Living segment on ABC15 talking to United Contracting Group about their annual Ugly Roof Contest.
“She’s a great neighbor, she cares about everyone, she helps everyone,” said Shepherd about the person he dubbed the “neighborhood mom”.
While most people in the contest nominated their own roofs for repair, Shepherd told United Contracting Group about Mendoza.
“I’ve had to help a couple times try to put tarps when it’s raining real hard, and the water’s going in her house,” said Shepherd.
Mendoza is a single mom and grandmother. Even with two jobs, the matriarch of a multigenerational household says the price of fixing her roofing woes was out of reach.
“A couple times I had people come and look and see but it was too much money for me,” said Mendoza.
“She’s been able to develop a community around her taking care of the kids in the neighborhood, the neighbors, she cooks for everybody, we couldn’t have picked a better winner here,” said Riley Michel with United Contracting Group. “This is our way of giving back to a community that’s allowed us to be successful.”
On Monday, United Contracting Group began turning her ugly roof into a brand new one, stripping old shingles and fixing structural issues along the way.
“When we talk to Darrell, he was absolutely over the moon when he found out Rachel won this,” said Erik Wiersum with United Contracting Group.
“I jumped up and down, I was so happy,” said Shepherd.
But he wasn’t done yet. He’d also raised money from the community to fix her home's stucco and give it a new coat of paint. All of it left Mendoza stunned by the generosity.
“He’s a good neighbor, very good neighbor,” said Mendoza hugging Shepherd. “I appreciate everything he’s done for me and I appreciate what United Contracting is doing for me. It’s really amazing that I’m going to have a new roof.”