Entries due Friday for free rebuilds of storm-damaged decks, docks

Was your dock or deck ravaged by Hurricane Matthew?

Local homeowners have a few days left to apply for one of four opportunities to have them rebuilt for free.

AZEK Building Products’ Helping Hand program, with the slogan “Reaching out to rebuild,” has partnered with local contractors to treat four homeowners, who enter from the Carolinas and Georgia, to replacement decks or docks. The local contractors include Myrtle Beach Building Supply, with stores in Murrells Inlet and Longs, and Guy C. Lee Building Materials and Garris Evans Lumber Co., both with sites in Shallotte, N.C.

To enter, or nominate someone affected, log on to azek.com/helpinghand, and upload as many as four photos of the storm damage to the deck or dock. Submissions for eligibility are due Friday, and the easy, quick-hit blanks to fill in for a contact name, address and the like include answering “why you or your nominee should win a free deck or dock.” For more details, reach AZEK at 877-275-2935.

Beth Mackey, a marketing manager for AZEK, based in Skokie, Ill., fielded some questions on March 20 about the Helping Hand program, which to that time, had drawn about 30 entries, with more welcome.

Q: How did the company learn of the degree of Hurricane Matthew’s damage here, which got only worse inland?

A: We have our sales representatives down there, so we keep an eye on that through them.

Q: How easy was partnering up with local companies to extend this helping hand?

A: Our company sales representatives (have) amazing relationships with retail representatives in the area, so partnering with them was very simple. Contractors on the local level got right behind us.

Q: Among the entries made, are docks or decks more prevalent among homeowners’ rebuilding needs?

A: Definitely more docks. In some pictures, they look like they have been completely washed away.

Q: Does the Helping Hand program mark a new initiative by AZEK, in turning something negative into something positive?

A: This is the first time we’ve done something like this. ... There are a lot of people who could benefit from this, and it builds a sense of community.

Q: How do the easy-to-complete entry forms give incentive to homeowners to voice their respective desires and challenges about rebuilding, especially with spring getting under way, and another season of hot fun in the summertime to follow?

A: Uploading pictures with entries really helps, along with just letting us know (what) each person’s story is, and knowing they can enter themselves or nominate someone else they know of who has a damaged deck or dock. They can nominate as many others as they want.

This story was originally published March 25, 2017 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Entries due Friday for free rebuilds of storm-damaged decks, docks."