At Ronald McDonald House® Greater Chattanooga, we believe that our mission works best when it feels like family and few reflect that spirit more beautifully than the team at Southern Roofing and Exteriors.
For the past year and a half, Chris and DeeDee Dyer along with their son and C.E.O, Terrell, have shown up faithfully through our Adopt-A-Meal program, preparing dinner once a month for the families staying at our House. DeeDee plans the meals, cooks them with care, and brings a sense of comfort that can’t be measured in servings. “Children are my heart,” DeeDee shared. “RMHC has always been on our radar — we’re just grateful for the opportunity to give back.”
Their impact doesn’t stop in the kitchen. It’s woven into their company culture.
A few weeks ago, one of their team members, Josh, started volunteering with us for Adopt-A-Meal and something clicked. After helping serve dinner, he came back for more: supporting our BugaPalüza event, helping at the front desk, and even bringing his fiancée, McKayla, to serve alongside him.
What Josh shared afterward left us teary eyed. “These people are putting families together.” He said that being here and seeing the mission in action — gave him the confidence to propose.
But what makes Josh’s story even more powerful is what brought him here.
When Josh was 12 years old, he collapsed after a cold cross-country meet. What followed was a sudden diagnosis of pectus excavatum, a severe chest wall deformity that required major open-heart surgery. Doctors placed a stabilizing bar across his chest, and he spent seven months on bed rest. During that time, with 75 miles between their home and the hospital, Josh’s family, his parents and two younger siblings, stayed at Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Piedmont Triad in Winston-Salem, North Carolina for six days.
Now, years later, he’s back in a Ronald McDonald House — not as a patient or a guest, but as a volunteer. A giver.
We’re so grateful to the Dyer family and Southern Roofing and Exteriors for the love they’ve poured into our mission. From meals, to memories, to moments of connection that remind us why we do what we do.
They are, in every sense, helping us keep families together.
