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Local vet creates jobs for vets and cleans up!
One veteran has found a way to help others through his veteran-owned business, restoring junk into needed items that can help people here rebuild their lives.
HOUSTON - Where you might stash trash, JDog's Junk Removal in north Houston can find treasure.
“When we pick up items from the person‘s house- maybe it’s a garage cleanup or an attic or even sometimes a barn, we bring everything back to our warehouse here where we recycle reuse or repurpose as much as 70 to 80 percent of everything we pick up,” says owner Timothy Colomer.
He spent 14 years traveling the world as a Marine.
”My job was unique: explosive ordinance disposal. I was a bomb squad technician,” he says.
But in 2006 in Iraq an IED blew his vehicle off the road, eventually ending his Marine Corps career.
As a disabled vet, Colomer says he saw an opportunity to give back, starting his junk removal company in 2017 - right before Hurricane Harvey hit.
"Our first mission was to go out in the community and help clean up a lot of the flood debris that was leftover."
His team, made up of other veterans, continues stepping up. In March, they cleaned out the northeast side's ”Corridor of Cruelty” where dead animals had been dumped.
They also revive furniture and medical supplies for those in need.
“We work with Project Cure, Camp Hope and charities as well as women shelters to return some of those items back out in the community so they’re not going back out in the landfill,” says Colomer.
He says transitioning out of the military can be scary for a lot of vets, so he also offers temporary positions--while they get on their feet.
"Supporting veteran-owned businesses gives us the opportunity to give back to our community, start something bigger and better for ourselves and our family, and take care of America the way we did in the military with respect, integrity, and trust.”