Photos by Bilaal Khan

The roofing industry is ready to leave its mark on San Antonio, host city of the 2025 International Roofing Expo. That includes the hard work of a few dozen volunteers who arrived in Texas a day early to participate in the 16th annual IRE Community Service Day.

For over a decade, volunteers from all segments of the roofing industry have donated their time and skills, working side-by-side with roofing contractors and fellow suppliers — including rival competitors — to give back to the local community that hosts the industry for a few days each year.

Chief sponsor Sika Corporation brought several volunteers and presented Rebuilding Together with a check for $15,000. Sika began its partnership with the IRE event in 2008 to create an opportunity for members of the roofing industry to give back to the local community wherever the show is taking place.

Rolling up their sleeves and getting a little dirty the day before hitting the show floor has become a much-anticipated tradition, said Bill Bellico, Sika’s vice president of marketing and inside sales.

“The Community Service Day is always one of my highlights of the year and really something that makes you walk away feeling a great sense of pride in what we can accomplish together as an industry,” Bellico said. “This marks the 15th anniversary of Sika acting as the main sponsor of the event, which is something we’re all extremely proud of as a company.” 

The partnership at IRE also fostered a stronger bond between Sika and Rebuilding Together, which has local chapters in and around major cities across the country. Bellico said Sika has worked on multiple community-based events with the nonprofit organization, resulting in more than a decade of positive experiences.

Side by Side

Dozens of volunteers showed up the day before the 2025 IRE to better the homes of local residents.

In prior years, the groups of volunteers often split up between locations that were either blocks, or in some cases, a few miles apart. This year’s crews worked on neighboring homes belonging to the same family.

Organizers challenged Rebuilding Together’s local chapter to find candidates with homes that were close by each other — preferably next door, within 15 minutes travel time from the convention center and projects that are ready to go.

That challenge fell to Jesse Porter, executive director of Rebuilding Together’s Austin-San Antonio chapter, which recently merged. He said it wasn’t easy but found qualifying candidates for the program.

Local Pastor Tim Adams has had a long career of community support in San Antonio. In addition to his faith work, he established a nonprofit that helped innercity San Antonio youth for years before retiring. He grew up in one of the homes in need of repairs and bought the house right next door for himself to be by his mother. He now looks after his mom and is trying to facilitate repairs on both homes, Porter said.

“His passion is preaching, and on Sundays, you’ll find him in the pulpit spreading the gospel,” he said. “But he needs some help. Pastor Adams has been a pleasure to work with and is eternally grateful for all the work we’re doing.”

Porter said there are various needs, including trimming, siding, fascia repairs, and painting on the houses. Clearing brush, establishing new fencing and gates, and building a back porch for the mom to sit outdoors are planned. 

"They’re never going to get to this work and these are things that would not happen if we didn’t pitch in and help,” Porter said. “He’s done nothing in his life but give back, serve, and support the community, so it does feel really good to go full circle and come back to help him out after all the kids he’s helped.”

The Mission Continues

Volunteers working to improve the properties of Pastor Tim Adams

There are 264,000 individuals that are considered living under the poverty line in San Antonio, according to the city’s Status of Poverty Report for last year. The city’s poverty scale translates to a family of four making $26,000 annually or less. It’s roughly 17.6% of the city’s population, well ahead of the national average, and roughly 29% are under age 5.

“It doesn’t surprise me because this is a family town,” Porter explained. “It’s all about family, culture, tradition … that’s who San Antonio is. It has a great identity. So it’s understandable there are so many kids, but it’s pretty alarming.”

Having worked with the organization for more than five years, and Habitat for Humanity before then, Porter said he’s acutely aware of the difference a safe, stable home for families can make.

“When you have that, you find that graduation rates in a community go up, overall education levels go up, credit scores go up. Everything in your life gets better when you have a safe and healthy home,” he said.

Housing is just one need, along with access to medical care, proper nutrition, transportation and financial advising. Rebuilding Together provides access to all of that, either directly or through community partnerships, to improve a resident’s quality of life.

The full day of volunteering would not be possible without donations from roofing companies, industry professionals, and several sponsors. IRE attendees who couldn’t make the volunteer event can still contribute during the show registration process and participate in the Give Back Program to celebrate positively impacting the local community.

Anyone considering a donation or getting involved for next year’s event will not regret it, Bellico said.

“It’s such a rewarding experience to be able to join with your industry peers and truly give back to people in need,” he explained. “When you see the expressions on the faces of the people you are helping at these events, you can’t help but walk away feeling extremely proud and happy about what you accomplished.”

Additional sponsors included GAF, Atlas, Carlisle, CentiMark, and Phillips 66.