Roofers in Recovery with Paul Reed

Rich & Wendy 0:00
Hey, everyone is Rich Bennett. Can you believe it? The show is turning ten this year. I am so grateful for each and every one of you who've tuned in, shared an episode, or even joined the conversation over the years. You're the reason that this podcast has grown into what it is today. Together, we shared laughs, tears and moments that truly matter. So I want to thank you for being part of this journey. Let's make the next ten years even better. Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios. Harford County Living presents conversations with Rich Bennett. 

Today, I'm going to get kind. 

No, no, no. The truth is. 

Rich Bennett 1:01
I am joined by the man, the myth, the legend, Joe Taylor. So Joe put a post up a few months ago. 

His. They were at a golf tournament and I saw him standing by this sign. I'm like. What in the world is it? I got to look into this. This didn't ask Joe bad. It didn't say anything. So I did my research and found out about this awesome organization. And contacted them. We were going back and forth with emails and I was able to get Paul Reed, who is the co-founder of this organization on. So I contacted years ago to be interesting in co-hosting this. He's like, For what? Who is it? And I told he said, Absolutely. So I have Paul Reed, who is the co-founder of Roofers in Recovery, which I never even heard of until I saw Joe standing by that sign. And, you know, of Joe owning Tar Heel Construction Group and, you know, basically the best roofing company out there in Maryland. Got to say that, right, Paul? 

Paul Reed 2:11
You got to say that. 

Rich Bennett 2:12
I got to say that. So, yeah, we're going to be talking to Paul about roofers and recovery because the awesome work that they're doing. So, Paul, first of all, welcome to the show, man. 

Paul Reed 2:23
Hey, man. Thanks for having me, guys. Always in our. Spread the message of rumours and recovery. 

Rich Bennett 2:29
Oh, my. My pleasure. And, Joe, good to see you again. Haven't seen you in a while. 

Joe Ayler 2:36
We're out there staying busy. This is the. 

We're not putting a lot of roofs on in five degree weather, but it sure does give us an opportunity to sharpen the pencil along on some interior and admin processes and and fill this. There's a ton of meetings to, you know. 

Rich Bennett 2:57
Good thing you're not out there on the roofs may sliding right off. So, Joe, before before I get to Paul, I want to ask you. How did you find out about roofers and recovery? 

Joe Ayler 3:11
Well, I'm so I don't know if. 

So so Steve Spence that project map it right is is a partner of ours and and has been for many many years Project map it is basically an interactive. 

Map that you placed on our website that kind of displays and showcases past projects and Steve is in recovery and partnered with roofers in recovery with this golf tournament and asked us to get involved. Steve's headquarters is out of Annapolis, Maryland, So. 

I wasn't you know, I'm familiar with rumors and recovery, but wasn't familiar, you know. Are there a lot of different chapters? Is it you know what I'm saying? So. 

Rich Bennett 4:02
Yeah. 

Joe Ayler 4:03
But that's kind of how we got hooked up through it, through a vendor of ours. And, you know, he tapped us to kind of get involved and get a foursome involved on the golf tournament and and we sponsored and then yeah, I mean, you know, roofing and recovery, you know, a lot of room for his own recovery. A lot of people are in recovery just in general but particularly in the trades you yeah there's just a lot of people that are in different stages of recovery and. 

Rich Bennett 4:33
Right. 

Joe Ayler 4:33
And service based businesses. So that's kind of how we got involved through a vendor. 

Rich Bennett 4:38
Okay, Paul, if you don't mind, tell us a little bit, a little bit about roofers in recovery when it started a year to co-founder, Right. 

Paul Reed 4:48
That's correct. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 4:49
Why you guys started. 

Paul Reed 4:52
Well, I'll tell you. I'll tell you what. So I'm a person of long term recovery myself. I got I got sober August 14th, 2007, and. Yeah, so celebrating 17 years. 

Rich Bennett 5:05
That's awesome. 

Joe Ayler 5:06
Grab 

Paul Reed 5:07
One 

Joe Ayler 5:07
the. 

Paul Reed 5:07
one. I'm one day at a time. And, you know, it was really kind of driving down the road. One day this was back, I'm going to say, about 2019 ish around that time. You know, I'm kind of a slow learner, but I had a kind of an epiphany of like, holy crap, like someone really was in service to me and helped me start my journey, you know, ten years prior to this. And that's where I say I'm a slow learner. The reality was I went to a rehab Claire, back in 2007, that was in Denver, Colorado. That costs $30,000 to go to and for whatever reason, ten years had passed by and I had the realization of how in the hell did we afford to do that? When I say we, I'm talking family and friends and everybody that cared enough to help me out and put me into a facility. And what it really happened was, you know, friends and family, maxed out credit cards, threw in 50 bucks here, a thousand bucks there. The Daniels Foundation gave me a scholarship for $10,000. And so the reality was, hey, you know, someone helped me and I need to be able to give that back. And so actually I called Eric over and out of a friend of mine out of Omaha, Nebraska, and kind of explained what was going on. I said, Hey, man, why don't we get together and let's put one person in roofing in rehab? Because Eric's also in recovery as well. I think he's. Approximately 15 years. And I said we should we should get together, throw some money in a pot. Let's let's put one guy in. And that's what we did. And after that, it was like, you know, that that was that felt good, right? That that's what we should that's what we should be doing. And God's blessed us to be able to have a successful career and a successful company, and we should give this back. And so that's when we said let's let's start, you know, roofers and recovery. And, you know, the initial thought was, hey, let's just let's start a non-profit. We had no idea what the hell that meant. 

Rich Bennett 7:14
Right. 

Paul Reed 7:16
My wife came in and Kimberly and started a run that she's the one that put all that together, you know, all the state staff, all the legal stuff, you know, to actually make it a national 501c3 You know, Eric and I just thought you could just start a non-profit We didn't understand. There's a lot of legal mumbo jumbo that goes. So that that was the start of it. And and since then we've been able to to help a lot of different people. And the core value to it is to help men and women in the roofing and construction industry and to get them into rehab when needed. And, you know or otherwise we we mentor, um, sponsor and guide them, things like that. 

Rich Bennett 7:58
That is great. So what kind of services, other services do you guys offer? Is there like any. Well, I know definitely the recovery, but what about as far as educational wise when it comes to roofing? 

Paul Reed 8:11
Yeah. So we actually and and I apologize. I forgot one key aspect to this, too, where where that also started from the roofers in recovery was, you know, there's a lot of roofing conferences across the country just, you know, all the time. And generally speaking, when you go to those conferences, it's it's a hell of a party. You know, all the vendors come together, you bring all these roofers from from everywhere. And, you know, there's a lot of booths, a lot a lot of stuff going on. And 

Rich Bennett 8:39
Why? 

Paul Reed 8:39
we were actually in it. We were at a conference in Las Vegas and a gentleman jumped push got through off of the building and onto the road. You know, when he was he was hammered by another guy actually OD'd in a hotel room. And from that point, it was like, you know, there needs to be somewhere when we go to a roofing conference, there needs to be a group of people because like us, we're not the only ones. You know 

Rich Bennett 9:06
Right. 

Paul Reed 9:06
that. You know that they need help. And so we we started having meetings. We started having AA meetings at roofing conferences. So that that's also another aspect of what we do. And currently we have two meetings a week over Zoom, Tuesday nights and Thursday mornings, a recovery meeting, you know, for guys all across the country that jump on Zoom and meet with us, we do a recovery meeting. 

Rich Bennett 9:30
That is great. And where are you guys located today? 

Paul Reed 9:34
Denver, Colorado. Is basically that the base? Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 9:39
Do you have, like you said earlier, do you have chapters elsewhere or yet? 

Paul Reed 9:44
No, it's so it's not, not yet. It's it's a it's a it's a national what we say is a national program. Right. So we actually have we built a network, you know, And I think really how we got all connected was, you know, like Ty Backer from T.C Backer I think introduced us to Steven and Steven started doing a deal. But we we literally said like a chapter. We have men or women pretty much in every state that are in the roofing industry, you know, that that are that are kind of part of the program, that when someone is in trouble or are hurting or need some help, and pretty much any state, we're able to call someone and say, hey, you know, Billy, there's a there's a guy there in Houston that's that's need some help and yet can you go over there and meet with them? 

Joe Ayler 10:34
Yeah. Because when we when we did the the the golf tournament and we tagged rivers in recovery and it popped up in Denver, I was like, am I hitting the right tag in the right group? Because I wasn't sure. You know, I knew Steve Spence was connected with with tie up in Pennsylvania, but I didn't know the the extent of the reach and how big all the networks were. But, you know, I feel you on the roof in conferences and that's why we stopped to go into those many years ago because. A waste of time, in my opinion. There's a lot of, you know, just a lot of peacocking and walking around and drinking and partying and get togethers. And ultimately it really adds no value to to growing my business. That's that's my opinion. And it was all centered around just partying and. 

Paul Reed 11:32
Right. 

Joe Ayler 11:33
Waste wasting time. Right. You know, but you kind of later in that recovery mission and there's commerce is do allow vendors to connect with the roofing industry. So I think there's Congress it makes sense for, you know, this kind of approach. But once you've been to one, you've been to them all. And you know, but but as a vendor and, you know, you take off your roofing hat, you know, Paul, and just, you know, put all your roofers in recovery hat. It's a great way to connect with with the roofing industry in person. Right. You know, since the maturity of the Internet, with all the roofing groups and roofing and solar community, it's very easy for people to connect and create a community around, you know, anything these days. 

Paul Reed 12:19
It is. And that and the reality is that there's always someone that goes to one of these events that is literally just right on the edge of they're going to go one way or the other in life. And we we have a lot of great success stories where we just happened to be there. They happened to walk in the room or happened to connect with one of us. And their life is completely different than than what it was or was going to be from decisions that they that they made or we're going to make. 

Joe Ayler 12:50
And then you start to realize, like as you, you know, grow and mature personally and professionally, and then you kind of take a step back and look at social interaction in the United States and really all over the country, it's all considered, or it's all 

centered around the consumption of alcohol and food. 

Paul Reed 13:14
Totally. 

Joe Ayler 13:16
you 

Paul Reed 13:16
Totally. 

Joe Ayler 13:16
want you. 

Paul Reed 13:17
It's like there's guys like me that lost their privilege, right, of of the alcohol portion of it, you know, and it's not going to be pretty. 

Rich Bennett 13:25
So, Paul, one of the things I love to ask people, especially, you know, when you're helping others, can you actually share a feel good story about a you don't have username about someone that you guys actually helped. 

Paul Reed 13:42
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 13:43
The cells, of course. 

Paul Reed 13:45
Yeah, I do. My my favorite my favorite story that that I'll share. And I won't use names, but there was a gentleman that I knew for a few years just kind of in passing, you know, really from Facebook sometimes like you, you our friend with someone on Facebook that you've actually never met in your life, that somehow you feel like, you know, um, because you see their whole life and you see their kids are growing up and you see all these different things. And to be honest with you, I didn't realize, you know, because social media sometimes is not really real, but I didn't realize. 

She was kind of going on and his his wife actually reached out to me and said, hey, we need some help. And I was I was surprised. You know, again, I didn't realize there was issues going on. And I said, sure, let me let me get on the phone and phone with him. And so the gentleman called me and we spoke and kind of walk through really what was going on. And he agreed that, you know, he needs help and wanted help. And most importantly, he was willing to to get help. So we actually put him into rehab. We we used our roofers and recovery, you know, foundation to to get him into rehab. And he went in and, you know, his life is completely different now. And that was, let's call it, three or four years ago. And where it really set me was this was, you know, I get on Facebook and he had he had gotten out of rehab and he was he was living and he was being a husband. He's being a father. He's been a business owner. And I all of a sudden I noticed. There was a picture that his wife had posted on Facebook of him and her and their kids. And there was just something different about his wife and I looked and she had this this glow just smiling. And I kind of I look back on a few pictures and and you could see the progression of her, her worries, her doubts, her fears. All these years that I had no idea she was posting pictures, you know, you know, she's with the kid, She's with him. And she just looked. She's a beautiful woman, don't get me wrong. But she just looked stressed out and she didn't look great. And then all of a sudden, like, her husband gets into this program and it. It changed her life because she wasn't so much into fear or whatever. And to see the difference it made for her, that that's, to me, was one of our greatest success stories. Right. And. 

Rich Bennett 16:31
Yeah. 

Paul Reed 16:32
You know, I actually seen them on Facebook. Now they're they're on the ABC Cancun trip. And, you know, so 

Rich Bennett 16:39
Oh, 

Paul Reed 16:39
there's a 

Rich Bennett 16:39
I. 

Paul Reed 16:39
lot of them giving their names out because there's about literally thousands of rumors right now with ABC out in Cancun. But man, she's still glowing because she knows her husband's doing what he needs to and like he's okay. And the love that she had for her husband is is is pretty cool. And so, you know, I hope that kind of made sense. But like, to me, that's one of our greatest success stories, just seeing what it did to change the dynamic of that family. 

Rich Bennett 17:08
Yeah, and that's a great story, too, because the thing is, a lot of people don't realize that when when somebody has an addiction, it's a big stress on the family. A very big. And when you go into recovery, the families in recovery as well. 

Paul Reed 17:27
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 17:28
Makes sense and a lot of people don't. I don't think a lot of people understand that, especially and there are even some. 

Other families that have family members in recovery that don't even understand, you know, that it's like one of the toughest things, challenges, I think, for somebody that's in recovery is when you go to these family functions you have. I don't know that one asshole uncle or whatever, that's all. Just trying to push a drink on you or you know what I mean? It's just some of those people don't get it. It's. 

Paul Reed 18:05
Well, it does, and it ties into the roofing industry when you go to these conferences, man. 

Rich Bennett 18:09
Yeah. 

Paul Reed 18:10
When you go out, it's just kind of expected. You go to a dinner with the supplier manufacturer. They're throwing booze in front of you. Right. So, again, it. 

Joe Ayler 18:20
I mean, I think it's tough for people who don't understand addiction to. 

Rich Bennett 18:25
Yeah. 

Joe Ayler 18:26
Say, hey, well, you know, on on one hand you can have absolute chaotic hell 

and. Just a constant chase. Yeah. Where are you going? To get, you know, getting high, right? You know, Or on the other hand, you've got everything you ever wanted. You know, we had a guy on our team that struggling right now. I mean, guys making $1,000,000 a year house car, wife, custody of his kid out of debt, you know, friends, family, everything that the guy earnings and everything that anybody would ever want in the United States. I mean, literally living the American dream and and chose the U.S and and has almost thrown it all away. I mean, we're dealing with it right now. So and we love the guy dearly. With me for you. I just can't comprehend. 

I'm not an addict. Right. I can't. Why somebody would choose. Such too blatant. There's no ambiguity. There's no gray area. It's either. 

They're the worst. 

Rich Bennett 19:34
Yeah. 

Paul Reed 19:36
Right. 

Joe Ayler 19:37
They're choosing that to get to get high, you know, and to lose everything that they've built up. That addiction, that disease is is so strong. And, you know, it's a really a nod to Paul and all the other organizations that are out there that are that are, you know, lending a helping hand and say, hey, we're here, you know, we know what you're dealing with and. 

Rich Bennett 20:00
Mm hmm. 

Joe Ayler 20:01
You want to be a tool and a resource to help you change. But it's a it's a wild thing, man. And it's like like Paul just said about the you know, just. 

Everything, every social aspect is is centered around altering. You know, how you feel with these outside chemicals, whether it's drug, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, you know, heroin, cocaine, all the hard stuff. Right. But then all the other stuff, too, mushrooms, all this new stuff that's coming out with psychedelics and seltzer water and everybody wants to, you alter how they feel with it with an environmental influence. Right. You know, and but I do think that lately with the the the influence of nutrition and fitness and mindset, 

fitness and, you know, just living a healthy lifestyle, I think has really elevated the last couple of years where you know, obviously. Sixties and seventies. You know, a guy goes to work, comes home, sits on a La-Z-Boy, drinks, wife, cooks dinner. And, you know, I think that that kind of, 

you know, landscape is changing and, you know. 

Rich Bennett 21:18
Yes. 

Joe Ayler 21:19
Sure. 

Paul Reed 21:21
The thing about with the addiction, you know, the the reality is, is the alcohol or the drugs are just the symptom. 

Rich Bennett 21:28
Yes. 

Paul Reed 21:29
There's generally other stuff going on, you know, and. And. 

Rich Bennett 21:32
Some type of mental. 

Paul Reed 21:34
Yeah. Some type 

Rich Bennett 21:35
Trauma 

Paul Reed 21:35
of some type 

Rich Bennett 21:36
or whatever. 

Paul Reed 21:36
of. 

Joe Ayler 21:37
Flat or something lacking. Some. Some. 

Paul Reed 21:40
Yeah. And the only way that you think that you're filling that hole is through the alcohol or through the drugs. And, you know, as as a as a human being for the most part, like, you just want to fit in, right? You see these other people and you assume that everything's great in their life and you just want part of that. You just you want to fit in. And, you know, a lot of times it's you pick up a bottle or you pick up drugs because like, you're trying to fit in and, you know, because you're trying to fill this hole that you have. And, you know, that's that's the thing is we want to be those people that are standing here going, hey, you know, like we're over here. We understand. We get it. We know what you're going through, Right? And we're here, too. We're here to help. And that's the cool thing about, you know, I'm talking to two guys today from Maryland. You know, that that that's awesome because roofers and recovery is, you know, obviously, like my passion and, you know, I have just enough big enough ego that in my head it's like, well, everybody knows about it because we posted on Facebook and blah, blah, blah and and then all of a sudden, you know, I hear these deals like jobs going, well, you know, I heard about it. And Rich, you're going. Right? You know, I just discovered it a few months ago. 

Rich Bennett 22:56
Right. 

Paul Reed 22:57
And I'm sitting here going like, Man, thank you guys for letting me be on here, because it's a big deal. It's it's affecting everyone in the United States. Everyone in the United States has someone that day that they're dealing with being a family member, be it themselves, be it someone that works for them, Right. Someone in their church, whatever that's going through these issues. And, you know, our our job is to stand up and kind of break that stigma because there is a stigma behind alcoholism. There's a stigma behind. 

Rich Bennett 23:27
Yep. 

Paul Reed 23:29
And there's probably even a bigger stigma of someone that has mental health problems. Right. And 

Joe Ayler 23:35
Yeah. 

Paul Reed 23:35
so, like, I volunteered to stand up in front of the group and say, Hey, look at me. 17 years ago, I was in a mental hospital. 17 years ago, I went into rehab for a meth addiction. You know, and today, my life is completely different. And I don't have to be that guy anymore. And like, let me help you. Right. Like, that's our. 

Joe Ayler 23:54
Yeah. I mean, you take you take a look at social media, and social media has done a lot of great things, but, you know, there is a lot of toxicity and. Comparison syndrome and, you know, all these kind of, you know, false facades that people kind of put out there. And I think it does, you know, affect how people think about themselves, you know, But like you said, Paul, every everybody I do Rich does. You do every everybody has either somebody in their family. They know a friend, you know, whatever it is, somebody in their circle of influence that that has struggled or is struggling with some sort of addiction. I mean, you know, not only do you see the people that you know, that that are that are really struggling, but you also see the functional, you know, addicts, Right. That. 

Paul Reed 24:48
Yes. 

Joe Ayler 24:49
That look like they have everything together. But, you know, they don't. Right. 

Rich Bennett 24:55
Yeah. 

Joe Ayler 24:56
And yeah, you know, it's definitely, you know, and it kind of goes along with the with the awareness of of mental health. And like I said before, fitness and nutrition and, you know, and all that stuff. And it's there's, there's definitely a need out there. And I think that that's the lovely thing about, you know, the 

being benevolent. Right. You know a benevolent society where we help one another, we're kind all these all these biblical principles that, you know, are there for a reason. Right. 

You know, Christ and the Lord and the Bible and that story and those parables are ingrained in the society for a reason, right? It makes society better. It makes people better. And what is the what's the opposite? Right. You know, destruction, chaos, rudeness, you know, disrespect. I mean, are we going to thrive? 

Paul Reed 25:57
Right. 

Joe Ayler 25:57
Society being like that. So it's it's it's really cool to kind of unpack that and see this in action. People helping people. And it's really it's hopeful. It provides. 

Rich Bennett 26:12
Yeah. 

Joe Ayler 26:13
Hope, right? 

Rich Bennett 26:15
Oh, absolutely. I mean, I. 

I've lost people to addiction. Family members, friends, God, I mean, from back in high school. Yeah, actually, before high school, Even even elementary school. Just, you know. 

Joe Ayler 26:32
Remember that far back in. 

Rich Bennett 26:34
I knew the old bad joke was going to come sooner or later. 

Joe Ayler 26:40
What was that? And notorious. 

Paul Reed 26:42
It's all in black and white. It's crazy. 

Rich Bennett 26:48
God, I do miss you, Joe. I. 

Joe Ayler 26:50
In the schoolhouse A is on the prairie walking 50 miles. The other a little. 

Rich Bennett 26:55
Oh, very. Uphill. Yeah, uphill both ways in the snow, barefoot smartass. But it's one of the things and I had a problem growing up, you know. I mean, I was doing stuff I shouldn't be doing. And you're hanging around all these people and you think they're your friends. But one of the things I've found out is that recovery circle people are recovery. That's more of a tight knit group of four. I don't even want to say friends. It's family. And correct me if I'm wrong, Paul, but everybody I've been talking to that's recovery in all the different organizations I've had on it is it's a tight knit group and they always have each other's backs. Right. 

Paul Reed 27:44
It's it's crazy, man. So when I when I got into recovery and I go to rehab, you know, 17 years ago, you know, I get there and I didn't I didn't actually go to rehab to get sober. Right. I went to rehab because I was like, listen, man, I don't think it's possible to get sober. I'm just going to go here. I'm going to chill out for 30 days. I'm going to get some food. You know, I'm going to I'm going to sleep because I haven't slept in a long time and I'm going to come out of here. You know, and kind of learn how to use drugs and alcohol like a gentleman. Right? That was my intention because I didn't I didn't think it was possible just to never drink or never use drugs again. So that's that's why I went to rehab, was to to use drugs to learn how to use drugs like a gentleman. Come to find out. You can't really do that right when you're when you're someone like me. But that, that the strange concept when I got there was all of a sudden I get there, dude. Literally the first day this guy hugs me. Like, what the hell was this guy hugging me, you know? And it was like, what is what's what's he doing here? And the reality is, is is something kind of changes when you when you start to get sober, you you want to be in service. Right. And you want to help to learn. You want to teach someone to love. And a lot of times you love them until they can learn to love themselves. Right? And like, that's this gap that you're that you're feeling for them. And, you know, I see so many signs and so many people all the time. You know, like I spent a lot of time on on a phone call with with some random kid from North Carolina or a kid from Washington, you know, and and and it's what we're supposed to it's being in service. And when you start doing that, something changes in your heart, Right? And you care about people and you want to see people that you don't even know. You want to see them succeed. Right. Because. 

Rich Bennett 29:42
Yeah. 

Paul Reed 29:43
Here's your experience. Right. And you want that for for other people. But I don't know, man. It's it's all about service. 

Rich Bennett 29:51
You're listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. We'll be right back. 

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Joe Ayler 31:15
And the power of community to write. 

Because because really, I mean, it can be it could be lawyers in recovery. It can be doctors in recovery. Roofers in. I mean, I think that the trades for some reason, you know, because because addiction doesn't discriminate. But for some reason it like you said before, that this stigma about, you know, it's just it addiction runs rampant in the trades for some reason because I think in the past. Right. If if someone is in a doctor, lawyer, college educated or whatever, and they kind of trickle down through society, you can always find a job somewhere in the trades because. 

Paul Reed 31:57
Yes. We don't do background checks. 

Joe Ayler 32:01
It's not institutionalized. Maybe some of them are. Maybe plumbing and HVAC and stuff like that. But but. But really, when you look at it, I mean, it can not only rivers and recovery, but it can be any trade. And everybody is is, 

you know, I think experience a challenge no matter what. If it's a you know, a high class, you know, profession or if it's a trade or offers a trade. 

Paul Reed 32:29
Now when I was when I was in rehab, that's that was my experience. I seen right away there was there was a guy in there that was a doctor. There was a guy that was a lawyer. There was a guy that owned a restaurant, You know, like it it's every walks of life. Like we're not No, no, no career, no human being is immune from. 

Rich Bennett 32:47
Exactly. 

Paul Reed 32:48
From some form of addiction, right? 

Rich Bennett 32:51
Yep. 100 per. 

Paul Reed 32:52
But, you know, I'm in roofing and, you know, it's provided an unreal life for myself and my family and, you know, a ton of people that that I get to work with on a daily basis. And so, you know, that was hence the roofers and recovery. And we have included, you know, basically men and women involved in in construction. Right. We wanted to kind of open that up. So we do have some people that aren't necessarily in roofing, but they're framers or, you know, HVAC guys. 

Rich Bennett 33:21
Paul, with the recovery, sending people to recovery centers because you guys don't have the recovery center yourself, right? You send them to different places. 

Paul Reed 33:32
We do. So we. 

Rich Bennett 33:33
Oh. 

Paul Reed 33:33
So for a few years, we actually partnered with with an organization that has a at a rehab center. And that was actually where Eric had went to rehab. So we started Eric over ramp that was one of the co-founders of In Recovery. We partnered with the organization that where he went to rehab because they had seven locations across the United States, because we have you know, it's not just people from Colorado coming to rehab. It's. 

Rich Bennett 33:55
Right. 

Paul Reed 33:56
All over. But all of this last year, my wife and I and a business partner actually opened a rehab center. I'll always say my I shouldn't say my wife and I. My wife. My wife. And our business partner. Mainly, my wife opened a rehab center up in southern Colorado in my old hometown. We actually purchased a building that used to be the youth detention center and. 

Rich Bennett 34:23
Allow. 

Paul Reed 34:24
We not knowing what we didn't know? Kind of thought you could just buy a building and, you know, maybe hire a counselor and start a rehab center. Come to find out it's a hell of a process. And you have to have like a medical staff and a clinical director and you have to have a bunch of state licenses and all these fun things. So really, my wife over the last couple of years has poured her heart and soul into almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week to open up a full continuum of care, which includes a detox facility. So now they come in and they go into detox for however long they need to be into a 30 day residential program and then transition out into an outpatient program and into sober living. So since we opened that actually in 

I think May at May of 24, we've actually had over 275 people walk through the doors. 

Rich Bennett 35:22
Wow. 

Paul Reed 35:23
Not all roofers, right? Not all roofers. 

Rich Bennett 35:25
Right. 

Paul Reed 35:26
Open to the general public, but it's been over 275 people walk through the doors and now we use it as, you know, when someone in Rupert in recovery needs needs to come in. We do fly into, you know, from Denver and then fly a little plane down from Denver to Alamosa, Colorado, is where the facility is. And and having great success with that. 

Rich Bennett 35:47
You bring them in from other states as well. You said. 

Paul Reed 35:50
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We actually actually have one guy in right now from from that's in the roofing industry. That's move out of Idaho. Last month we had a guy out of Houston, Texas, that's in the roofing industry that that was there. So, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 36:07
How many people can you actually keep in the facility at one time? 

Paul Reed 36:11
So I believe the the detox portion is ten bad detox and then. 

Rich Bennett 36:17
Okay. 

Paul Reed 36:17
Inpatient as 20 bed inpatient. 

Rich Bennett 36:22
Now and explain what the cause you got. Was it the scholarship? 

Paul Reed 36:27
Yes. So the repairs and recovery, that's our foundation that we have for repairs and recovery is again, we're a501c3. And so throughout the year, we we fundraise and, you know, basically beg and and borrow. I was going to say still, but that wouldn't I wouldn't. We don't do that. We're in recovery. 

We beg and borrow and we we get donations because even though we, you know, control the costs now with with our facility, it's still basically cost is like $13,000. So it's not cheap, right, to go to rehab. So we go to a lot of different events and do fundraisers. And we have what it's called National Roofers and Recovery Day. And people donate the proceeds off a roof that they did that day to us. And we collect that money. And that money is is used solely to put people into rehab. That's in the roofing industry. 

Rich Bennett 37:29
So if a let's say like Tar Heel has somebody that. 

Paul Reed 37:35
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 37:35
We that needs to go into rehab. How do they go? What's the steps for them to get this person in rehab with you? 

Paul Reed 37:44
Great question. Great question, Rich. So the first step is basically, you know, getting hold of myself or someone in our organization, Eric Kim, a couple of the board members, Robert Kris or whoever getting hold of one of us and saying, hey, you know, I got to got a guy or gal that that needs some help from there. What we do is we we get on a phone call with with that person and we try to generally get them on a Zoom call even, and we just kind of talk to them. What we're doing is, is one kind of trying to offer, encourage, strength and hope of like, hey, I get it. I understand I've been in your shoes before. And then too, we're kind of testing their willingness to see like, Hey, are they ready? Are they are do they really want to come down? Because as a as a nonprofit, you know, the funds are limited, right? We can't put everyone in rehab. So we need to kind of vet through it and see, you know, hey, is is Billy over here? Is he actually willing to come in? And if Billy's willing to come in, then we're going to we're going to make it happen. Sometimes, you know, someone gets a DUI or their mom gets mad at them or their wife is pissed or their boss is mad, they're like, Oh, yeah, you know, yeah, I'll go to rehab just so they get out of trouble. They're not ready and. 

Rich Bennett 38:59
Right. 

Paul Reed 39:00
Have enough funds and money to say, well, let's not going to say waste $13,000 from this person. But we try to kind of to vet them. And as soon as they're willing, then we get them here. And then from there, what we focus on is day 31. Because, you know, for 30 days they're okay. They're not going to drink, They're not going to use for 30 days. It's easy to stay sober and rehab 

Rich Bennett 39:22
Right. 

Paul Reed 39:22
day 30. How can we set them up for success? So we start that's where we start using our network of, you know, calling, you know, Bailey over here in Houston saying, hey, you know, Chuck just got out of rehab. He lives in Houston. He works for so-and-so roofing company. Here's his phone number. You need to connect with this guy. And so we start network. You know, a got a guy in Pennsylvania we're calling, you know, Ty backer. Ty got a guy coming out. You know, can you mentor him, sponsor him, you know, so that that's kind of the basis of it. 

Joe Ayler 39:54
Paul. You know I don't wanna get off, you know. Not off topic, but, you know, if you know, I'd love to connect with you and and see how we can we can support you guys as a as a member of the and community moving forward. But, um, so, so what is what's the next thing for rivers in recovery. What what are the what are the future plans. 

Paul Reed 40:18
Well, I just try to continue to get the word out. We're really focusing right now on I'm getting it out more. Right. When we just when we think that everybody's heard of us, they have it. So for the last four or five years, I've tried to get in front of Irish because that's the largest organization and RCA is the largest organization and Roofing and the Irish conference that's coming up here in three weeks is the largest trade show they have, you know, like 15,000 roofers that come through the doors. And I hadn't had a lot of success to get in front of them. They kind of put me off a little bit. And even with the suppliers and the manufacturers and I'll get into that just a second of why. But man, I'm going to say, through the grace of God, I finally connected with the right people with a diary. And on the 19th of February, I'm actually presenting for 55 minutes in their general session I get to talk about. 

Joe Ayler 41:18
Wow. 

Paul Reed 41:18
Addiction, alcoholism and mental health. So I feel really fortunate and blessed, you know, because I'm going to be able to get that out to 15,000 people at that time. Right. And because it is it's running. It's running rampant. And and we're just we're here to help. And while we love is you take one guy that that that's able to come in and change his life whether that's sometimes that breaks generational curses that changes the trajectory of how many people hundreds thousands of people, Just one person. Right. If we can help. Generational curses are a real deal, man. And if we 

Rich Bennett 41:56
Yeah. 

Paul Reed 41:57
could break that help. Break. Not we, right? But we could provide the tools that this person is going to use to do that. Then it's it's a big deal. So that's that's our deal is we're just trying to get out there more, get the word out more spread, more of it. That that, hey, there is an organization that that's here to help. So, like, that's the plans for 2025 and moving forward, you know, the fundraising is going to come the the the facilities built. Hey, if we if we get to capacity and all of a sudden there's 84 roofers that need to come in this month, rather, we got resources and partners in other, you know, rehab centers that will put them in. Like we'll figure that out. That's not a big deal. But but really that the mission is to continue to get the word out so we can, you know, help people. 

Rich Bennett 42:46
Speaking of donations, Paul, and I don't know how it is where you're at, but I do know 

a lot of recovery places, organizations in different states struggle, or they they they struggle or they there's no grants available to them. How it for you guys? There are grants available for you. Are you just is it strictly donations? 

Paul Reed 43:13
It's donations and fundraising. So, no, we haven't been able to get any type of grants. We've all put a lot of money out of our own pocket, you know, into it. You know, our give back rate is in the high nineties. You know, there's it's just just how it is. 

So it's it's it's that and what where we've struggled is I'm going to I'm going to say to use the stigma word because I thought to myself I see a lot of the manufacturers a lot of the suppliers, you know, as a roofing, as a roofing industry, we're kind of spoiled by the manufacturing suppliers. It's like, Hey, I want to go to the ball game on Saturday. They don't have any problem, you know, spending a couple grand to send you to the ball game, right? Sponsor. 

Rich Bennett 43:58
Right. 

Paul Reed 43:59
You go to these conferences and they're dropping $15,000 on a booth and they're doing 84 dinners at night, Right? And so I was like, Hey, this is a big deal. Let me put this. They're going to love this. And so I started asking a lot of suppliers and manufacturers for for donations and really kind of got the cold shoulder over the years. Now, 

Rich Bennett 44:20
Wow. 

Paul Reed 44:20
I. Had. Yeah. Yeah. I have had a handful do one time donation of like 20 grand, which is a big deal. That's a lot of money. But there's still kind of this weirdness. And I'll tell you why. It's because all of their marketing and events are based off of having a great time, and that usually includes alcohol. So I think there's this like weirdness of like, you know, shit, we give ten grand or 20 grand over to like, dude where we're sponsoring the freakin keg over here tonight. So there's this, like kind of this weirdness. So we're still navigating through that. So if anybody hears this, it's on the manufacturing supply line. Good for you guys. Continue to do that. But hey, we're over here. We can use some help and we need your help. You guys are $1,000,000,000 industry, you know, organizations where we're just million dollar guys and help us out, man. No judgment, no stigma. And that's, oddly enough, we have faced that. But again, I will recognize that I have had a handful of manufacturers and suppliers have have gave a little bit. 

Rich Bennett 45:30
Well, so. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Joe. 

Joe Ayler 45:32
I agree with you, Paul, and it's just a narrative that I think needs to change. 

There's ways to live a fulfilling life and to have fun without, you know, drugs and alcohol. Right. You know. It's just something that needs to change, you know? 

Paul Reed 45:53
Well, listen, brother, we're not we're not like the A.I.. Like, Oh, my God, that guy drinks or that guy smokes weed. Do. Do you? That's fine. I don't. It doesn't bother me right there. I just happen to lost my privilege. You can continue to do you? And you don't have to hide it. Because I happened to be in the room like I don't care. I could be in a room when people are drinking. It doesn't affect me or bother me. Right. And I think that's again, people see us and they're like, kind of like when the missionaries knock on your door. Yet you deep down, you know that you need God, but you're like, Oh, my God, I don't know. I talked to that guy today. You know, it's not going to answer the door. There's going to be a period. 

Joe Ayler 46:33
Yeah, you're right. 

Good way to put it. 

Rich Bennett 46:37
Something very important. Tell people how they can make a donation. 

Paul Reed 46:43
So if you get on it, you actually go and you go online on to our website that W WW dot roofers and recovery dot. 

Rich Bennett 46:50
Org. 

Paul Reed 46:51
Dot com or dot org dot org. I always forget that someone stole our damn website years ago. And so then they tried to grease us for like ten grand and so we had to go to dot org. 

Rich Bennett 47:02
In all honesty, Paul, if you're a nonprofit dot org is what you want because there's a lot of people if they. 

Paul Reed 47:08
Good. 

Rich Bennett 47:09
If they see a nonprofit and it's a dot.com, a lot of times they will not donate. 

Paul Reed 47:14
Yeah so it's it's it's roofers in recovery dot org and there's a donate now button that you could get on you could do a one time donation you could do a monthly. I had so many cool people in the industry that that actually do a percentage or a half percentage or whatever on their monthly revenue or their profit or whatever. And they just do a monthly deal. And it, it really helps us. It makes a huge, huge difference. So that that's the biggest way to do it. You see us at the events, you know, we we sell stuff, we sell shirts and hats and all that and but that's the best way to get on is, is to get online. And if you're not comfortable, you know, put your credit card on there or whatever, you can give us a call or link up with me and, you know, Millichap or Venmo or however. But it is because it's a nonprofit, It's again, the Fiber one, C three. You know, we'll get your your tax stuff 

Rich Bennett 48:11
Tax deduction. 

Paul Reed 48:12
off. 

Rich Bennett 48:12
Right. 

Paul Reed 48:13
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 48:15
You mentioned about, like all the roofing things that you're going to conventions and all that, But do you actually go to any because I know there are some like conventions for people in recovery. You have a lot of facilities where you can actually go in and speak to people. And the reason I mention that as far as going outside of just the ones for roofing is because a lot of people. And Joe, correct me if I'm wrong here, a lot of people change your careers afterwards. So if you speak to somebody and I don't know what I'm the closest to when it comes to mine right here is actually addiction treatment. If you speak to a group there and the guys that they're in recovery says, you know what, I didn't I could do roofing anymore, but this may be for me. So do you actually go and and and talk to different groups like that or have you thought about it? 

Paul Reed 49:10
We haven't thought about that now at all. And we have a we have a media board meet on Tuesday. And one of the things that's on the list is actually trying to get some more board members on or ambassadors really across the country. You know, one of the things that even though I'm, you know, very passionate and in this fact is I still run, you know, a multimillion dollar a year roofing company. And sometimes your time is limited and you're doing and stuff with your family. And so we we really want to kind of grow the organization this year and get a lot more quite a few more ambassadors all across the country to really push that out so we could do things like that. Rich. 

Rich Bennett 49:50
Yeah. 

Paul Reed 49:51
Yeah, we just. We need. We need some help. I mean, obviously, besides the obvious of, you know, financial help to to help the people in recovery, we also just need, you know, men or women that are in roofing right now to help us spread the message more. 

Rich Bennett 50:05
You get the word out there, that makes a big difference. And you're doing one of the ways is what you're doing right now, you know, getting on podcasts and actually how many different podcasts have you been on so far? 

Paul Reed 50:19
Man. 

Rich Bennett 50:19
Go. 

Paul Reed 50:19
No, 

Rich Bennett 50:19
Tell 

Paul Reed 50:19
I. 

Rich Bennett 50:19
me on the first and only wide. 

Paul Reed 50:22
Now, I've been on a lot of different podcasts. 

Rich Bennett 50:25
Good. 

Paul Reed 50:26
I've been on a lot of different podcasts. The thing, Rich, I just, you know, I think I'm saying this to try to hold myself more accountable. I have to do a better job of of the just being more diligent and being more consistent with it. You know, come in and do a really good podcast like this and, you know, I'll be on fire for the next two weeks, you know, getting the message out and then all of a sudden life gets busy and yeah, I'm helping people every single day, but not getting the whole broad message out. So throwing that out there to myself as a reminder to be, you know, accountable to do do this more consistently so. 

Rich Bennett 51:03
Right. Well, I'll leave. I'll leave this up to Joe, because I know Joe. Can he can I co-host all the time? But one of the things I would like to offer to you, because we I don't know if you know this or not, but our podcast is number one in the addiction category. On good page, we actually beat out MSNBC's FX's American Radical. 

Paul Reed 51:26
Wow. 

Rich Bennett 51:27
We've been we've 

Paul Reed 51:27
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 51:27
been holding, number one, I think, well over a year and a half now. 

Paul Reed 51:34
Love it. 

Rich Bennett 51:34
What I would like to offer, whether it be quarterly or twice a year or whatever, is for you to come back on and tell us, you know, give us some of those feel good stories and let us know how everything has been going. Just to help to get the word out there more and. 

Paul Reed 51:52
Amen, brother. I mean. 

Rich Bennett 51:53
Podcaster. Joe, what do you think? 

Joe Ayler 51:56
Yeah, look, I know, I know you got a tie up in the York area, and I know you got Steve down in Annapolis. I'd love to. To, you know, be the middleman between those between those two markets in the in the Baltimore area. Yeah, I co-host. I'd love to help you guys out in any way we can and and kind of team up with Steve and Ty and kind of lock down this mid-Atlantic area and help you spread the word. And, you know, and I love the idea of, you know, 

donating, you know, a portion of, you know, the net proceeds of our company to two rivers of recovery and kind of, you know, run a campaign like that. I think it's a great idea. 

Paul Reed 52:42
So ask me as we got tired, Steve or actually we've got we're flying them out. I believe in February they're going to come out to the facility in Alamosa to check it out. And you know, just excited to share that. And, you know, really what the mission is to to serve and give back then. 

Rich Bennett 53:00
I think it'd be a good idea about getting Ty and Steve on. And let's do a virtual roundtable. You know, I love roundtables, man. What do you think? A virtual reality. 

Joe Ayler 53:12
Yeah, Yeah, it is. But like Paul said, I mean, you stay on it and, and, and just continue to spread the message and, and get as many people as involved, get as many people involved as possible and just ride that wave and create that momentum, which you seem like you're doing a great job of doing all. 

Paul Reed 53:32
It does boil down to this, like if we help that one person, I don't think most people understand or realize by helping one person what that does. That one person affects thousands of people. Right. If someone hadn't. If someone had to help me 17 years ago and, you know, kind of showed me the way. You know, where would my kids be today? Right. And where were it my company be today? And, you know, literally hundreds, thousands of people that have worked for me over the last 17 years. You know, like, how would their life be different? You know, we've been able to affect that. So to me, it's like this this you know, if you do this roundtable, we're going to help one person, not one person are going to be a thousand people. 10,000 people. And I love that. So it's just it's a matter of us continuing to get this message out there of of of of service and and truly changing and affecting people's lives. And like, that's our duty, man. That's our duty. How many days on this earth? And, you know, I don't want to look back and be like could it did more. 

Rich Bennett 54:39
Do you have any last questions for Paul? 

Joe Ayler 54:43
No, I just. I love the mission, man. And. And I love the butterfly effect, you know? You know, kind of layer of that. And, yeah, it just, you know, when you when you've been. 

There's times in my life where I haven't had a lot, you know, and there's times in my life where I've been comfortable. Right. And and yet it's just interesting to to to be in in our position and try to tell somebody that's younger and struggling that, hey, man, you know, you put your head down for a year, five years, like you said earlier. I'll tell you how your life was dramatically different 17 years ago. And it kind of takes people with those life experiences to be able to mentor, coach, influence these people that think that they're hopeless and lost. And and it's just it's a really refreshing message. And and I think that that's why we're here as as influencers and business owners and leaders is to is to help people. I mean, I think us as entrepreneurs, we get into business to make money, right? That's why we originally start to do it right. But then once you once you get to a level of success or or comfort, then then you then you realize it was never about the money. You know, it's about helping people and and and making a positive impact. And I love the message. And and I'm glad that I've, you know, co-hosted this because other than, you know, being connected with Steve, you know, like you said, Paul, if I would have never got into roofing, if I would have never met Steve Spence at a golf Northeast Expo, if I would have never signed up as one of the first companies with a project map that I wouldn't have been introduced to rivers in recovery, that I wouldn't be on this podcast now. I wouldn't be thinking to myself, Hey, man, I'm glad that I did this and I'd love to get involved so I can make positive impact and at least be a sliver of help there. So I love it. I love it. 

Rich Bennett 56:54
I'm just glad you posted that photo. So I found out about him. Joe. I'm also glad you didn't ask me to be on your team, because you definitely would have came in last. 

Joe Ayler 57:05
You'd have to sign your TS. 

Rich Bennett 57:07
Maybe. There we go again. You had to get another crack at there. Geez, Paul, is there anything you'd like to add before we wrap it up? 

Paul Reed 57:16
No, just just the appreciation for. For having me on today means a lot. Guys, I. I love doing this. You know, just thank you so much for, for, you know, being part of this, for being at that golf tournament. Right. And donating. I feel like a dummy for not remembering how much they collected, but it was a pretty considerable amount that day that really helped us. I know that it that that money was used to put a gentleman into rehab. And, you know, it changed his life, right, just by going and playing golf. So thank you guys for for having us on and being part of this and, you know, spread spreading the message and, you know, anything that you need for me, I'm here to help. 

Rich Bennett 58:01
Paul and Joe, I want to thank you both and especially I want to thank you for helping other people because it's it's definitely needed. Those of you listening. Again, make sure you go to Rufus in recovery dot org. It's roofers in recovery dot org and make a donation and if you know of anybody that needs any help, reach out and contact Paul and his team and don't make don't make sure that they get the help that they need. Paul, Joe, thanks a lot. 

Paul Reed 58:34
Thank you, guys. Have a great day. 

Rich Bennett 58:36
You do. 

Rich Bennett 58:39
Thank you for listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. I hope you enjoy today's episode and learn something from it as I did. If you'd like to hear more conversations like this, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, I'd love if you could leave a review. It helps us reach more listeners and share more incredible stories. Don't forget to connect with us on social media or visit our website at conversations with Rich Bennett. Dot com for updates, giveaways and more. Until next time, take care. Be kind and keep the conversations going.