Georgia homeowners have no shortage of roofing companies knocking on their doors. Only one veteran owned roofing company in the state was built by a man who survived a traumatic brain injury during combat operations in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle in September 2005, then spent the next two decades turning that survival into a mission for other veterans. Tom Stratton and Jerry Jerabek have run Tom and Jerry’s Roofing out of Woodstock for more than three decades of combined trade experience. Off the clock, the two lifelong friends have quietly built one of North Georgia’s most active veteran support networks, and most of their customers have no idea how deep it runs.
Background and Context
Tom Stratton and Jerry Jerabek met in college and have now been friends for 36 years. They stumbled into roofing as young men, working their way up from ground crews to running what locals now call metro Atlanta’s most trusted roofing company. Both have more than three decades in the trade, which matters more than it sounds. Georgia’s roofing market has been flooded in the last several years by out-of-state “storm chasers” who show up after a hailstorm, pressure homeowners into signing contracts on the spot, and vanish before the warranty means anything. Tom and Jerry built the opposite model: local ownership, documented training, and a 10-year labor warranty that outlasts the sales pitch.
Tom’s path to that model wasn’t easy. He suffered a traumatic brain injury while serving in combat in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle in September 2005, an injury that reshaped much of his personal life in the years that followed. Jerry, already 20 years into their friendship at that point, stood by him through the recovery. When their roofing business found its footing, both men decided to use that success to pay veterans back for what military service had cost them. You can read more about their founding story directly from Woodstock City Lifestyle, which first reported on the company’s veteran ties in depth.
Why This Veteran Owned Roofing Company Stands Apart in Georgia
The roofing industry runs on trust, and trust is exactly what generic “top 10” listicles can’t measure. Tom and Jerry’s Roofing has more than 200 five-star reviews and was voted the 2024 Best Roofing Company in Woodstock and Canton, Georgia. Customers describe a company that shows up on time, quotes an honest price, and does the unglamorous work, like using a magnet to sweep the yard for stray nails, without being asked. That reputation is verifiable on the company’s Better Business Bureau profile, a level of transparency plenty of “five-star” storm chasers can’t survive.
None of that alone would separate them from a dozen other solid Georgia roofers. What does is what happens after the invoice is paid.
Behind the Scenes: A Veteran Owned Roofing Company Rebuilding More Than Roofs
In 2005, Tom Stratton suffered a traumatic brain injury during combat operations in Iraq. Veterans who survive that kind of injury often come home to find the hardest fight is the one nobody sees: isolation, post-traumatic stress, and a Department of Veterans Affairs system that moves slower than the damage does. Tom lived that fight. So when Tom and Jerry’s Roofing started generating steady income, Tom co-founded Mil Vet Community alongside fellow advocate Tim Young, a Georgia-based organization built to promote veteran volunteerism and connect the scattered resources available to former service members in one place.
Mil Vet Community hosts a monthly veteran fellowship gathering on the first Monday of every month at Reformation Brewery in Woodstock, a low-key event built to fight the isolation that so often follows military service. The organization has represented Georgia veterans in advocacy work that has reached Congress, partnered with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office on its Veteran Crisis Prevention Team, and helped sponsor community events like the Red White and Brews festival in Woodstock. Tom and Jerry’s Roofing also sponsors fundraising efforts for Shepherd’s Men, an Atlanta-based team of active-duty, medically retired, and honorably discharged veterans who run, swim, and ruck for 22 consecutive hours each year while wearing 22-pound flak vests. The number 22 represents the roughly 22 veterans the VA estimates die by suicide every single day, a statistic Shepherd’s Men uses to fund the SHARE Military Initiative at Atlanta’s Shepherd Center, which treats veterans dealing with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress.
The company also backs Honor and Remember, a national nonprofit that presents a personalized remembrance flag to the families of fallen service members and works to comfort Gold Star families through ongoing programs. And in a direct message to this outlet, Tom Stratton confirmed he also gives regularly, both financially and through hands-on volunteering, to the Travis Manion Foundation, the organization founded in memory of Marine 1st Lt. Travis Manion, who was killed in Iraq in 2007 saving wounded teammates. The foundation now runs mentorship and leadership programs for veterans and Gold Star families nationwide under the motto Travis left behind: “If Not Me, Then Who.”
Not every cause Tom supports makes it into a press release, and that’s by design. Some of what he gives back stays quiet on purpose, which says more about his motives than any headline could.
The Honest Counterargument: Isn’t This Just Good Marketing?
Skeptics have a fair point worth taking seriously. Plenty of companies slap a flag on their truck and call it patriotism while doing the bare minimum. A single roof giveaway makes a great local news segment and a better ad campaign. If Tom and Jerry’s Roofing had done one photogenic donation and stopped, this would be a fair criticism.
But the pattern here doesn’t hold up as marketing. Co-founding a nonprofit organization is a years-long structural commitment, not a photo op. Hosting a fellowship night on the first Monday of every single month for years running isn’t a campaign, it’s a habit. Partnering with a county sheriff’s office on an actual crisis-prevention protocol requires sustained institutional trust that advertising money can’t buy. And declining to publicize at least one area of giving, as Tom did when he asked that a certain cause stay private, is the opposite of what a marketing strategy would recommend. People chasing publicity don’t ask you to leave the good stuff out.
The Human Stakes: Why 22 A Day Isn’t Just a Number
Statistics numb people. Twenty-two isn’t an abstraction to a family that lost someone to it. Picture a wife waiting for a husband who came home from Iraq or Afghanistan physically whole but carrying something invisible that never got named until it was too late. That’s the reality Shepherd’s Men runs 22 kilometers a day to confront, wearing a 22-pound vest to feel a fraction of the weight veterans carry every day. It’s the same reality that pushed Tom Stratton, a man who lived through his own TBI and the personal fallout that followed, to build something permanent instead of writing one check and moving on.
Every homeowner who hires Tom and Jerry’s Roofing for a storm repair or a full replacement is, whether they realize it or not, funding a first-Monday brewery meetup where a lonely veteran finds someone who understands him, a park cleanup that gives a struggling vet a reason to show up, or a flag delivered to a Gold Star family who needed to know their loved one’s sacrifice wasn’t forgotten.
What the Data Shows About Veteran Giving in Georgia
The Department of Veterans Affairs has long cited a figure near 20 veteran suicides per day nationally, a number Shepherd’s Men has built its entire mission around reducing through funding for traumatic brain injury and PTSD treatment. Georgia is home to a growing web of grassroots veteran support organizations built by veterans themselves rather than large national charities, and Mil Vet Community fits squarely in that category. As the City Lifestyle profile on the company put it, Tom Stratton “has been proud to represent the local veterans through financial contributions and personal advocacy,” a role that has included conducting charity road marches and taking veteran concerns directly to lawmakers in Washington.
What Happens Next for Georgia’s Veteran Community
Mil Vet Community’s model, monthly recurring events instead of one-time galas, is the kind of grassroots infrastructure other Georgia counties are starting to study and replicate. The continued partnership with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office on veteran crisis prevention points toward a broader trend conservatives have pushed for years: solving veteran mental health at the local and community level, not just through a distant federal bureaucracy. As Tom and Jerry’s Roofing keeps growing, the resources flowing into these programs grow with it. Watch for Cherokee County’s “Clean the Greens” park cleanups, held every second Monday of the month, and the annual Red White and Brews festival in Woodstock to keep expanding as the company’s reach does.
Conclusion
A veteran owned roofing company in Georgia shouldn’t need a marketing gimmick to stand out, and Tom and Jerry’s Roofing doesn’t have one. What it has is a founder who survived a traumatic brain injury in combat and decided the rest of his life would be about making sure other veterans didn’t fight their battles alone. From co-founding Mil Vet Community to sponsoring Shepherd’s Men, Honor and Remember, and the Travis Manion Foundation, the giving here isn’t a press release, it’s a pattern spanning decades. The next time a Georgia homeowner needs a roof replaced, they’ll be doing more than fixing a leak. They’ll be backing a mission that’s already changing how this state takes care of the people who served it.
Website: https://www.tomandjerrysroofing.com/
FAST FACTS
- Tom and Jerry’s Roofing is based in Woodstock, Georgia, and serves the greater metro Atlanta area, including Kennesaw, Canton, and Cherokee County.
- Co-owner Tom Stratton suffered a traumatic brain injury during combat operations in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle in September 2005. (Source: Woodstock City Lifestyle)
- Tom Stratton and Jerry Jerabek have been friends for 36 years and have a combined three-plus decades in the roofing trade. (Source: Woodstock City Lifestyle)
- The company was voted the 2024 Best Roofing Company in Woodstock and Canton, GA, and holds more than 200 five-star customer reviews. (Source: tomandjerrysroofing.com)
- Tom Stratton co-founded Mil Vet Community with Tim Young to promote veteran volunteerism and resource coordination across Georgia. (Source: Woodstock City Lifestyle)
- Shepherd’s Men, an organization Tom and Jerry’s Roofing sponsors, funds the SHARE Military Initiative at Atlanta’s Shepherd Center, treating veterans for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress. (Source: Shepherd’s Men)
- The Department of Veterans Affairs has cited a longstanding estimate of roughly 22 veteran suicides per day nationally, the figure behind Shepherd’s Men’s signature 22-hour endurance events. (Source: Shepherd’s Men, American Legion)
- Honor and Remember, another organization the company backs, presents personalized remembrance flags to the families of fallen U.S. service members nationwide. (Source: honorandremember.org)
FAQ
Q: Is Tom and Jerry’s Roofing a veteran owned roofing company in Georgia? A: Yes. Co-owner Tom Stratton is a combat veteran who suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle in September 2005. He and co-owner Jerry Jerabek have run the Woodstock-based company for decades, building it into one of metro Atlanta’s most reviewed roofing businesses while also becoming active advocates for the local veteran community.
Q: What areas does Tom and Jerry’s Roofing serve? A: The company operates out of Woodstock, Georgia, and serves the greater metro Atlanta market, including Kennesaw, Canton, and communities throughout Cherokee County. Services span roof inspections, repair, full replacement, storm damage restoration, gutters, skylights, and both residential and commercial roofing.
Q: Which veteran organizations does Tom and Jerry’s Roofing support? A: The company sponsors and supports Mil Vet Community, which Tom Stratton co-founded, along with Shepherd’s Men, Honor and Remember, and the Travis Manion Foundation. Support includes financial donations, event sponsorships, and hands-on volunteering, including a monthly veteran fellowship gathering in Woodstock.
Q: Is a company’s charity work just a marketing tactic, or is this different? A: Marketing-driven giving usually looks like a single high-visibility donation timed for publicity. Tom and Jerry’s Roofing’s involvement runs the opposite direction: recurring monthly events, a co-founded nonprofit, a multi-year sheriff’s department partnership, and at least one cause Tom asked to keep out of the press entirely. That pattern points to genuine commitment rather than a PR campaign.
Q: How can someone verify Tom and Jerry’s Roofing’s reputation before hiring them? A: Homeowners can check the company’s Better Business Bureau profile, its more than 200 five-star Google reviews, and its 2024 award for Best Roofing Company in Woodstock and Canton, GA. The company also backs work with a 10-year labor warranty against leaks and workmanship issues.
CALL TO ACTION
Stucci Media exists to tell the stories the big outlets water down or skip entirely, and Tom and Jerry’s Roofing is exactly why. This isn’t a press release dressed up as journalism; it’s a Georgia company built by a man who came home from war and decided to spend the rest of his life fighting for the people who served beside him. If you want more stories like this, the real ones, told straight, subscribe to Stucci Media. You’re not signing up for a newsletter. You’re joining people who still think character counts.
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