‘Bargain Block’ stars launch fundraiser to replace roofs in Detroit neighborhood

Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas, stars of Detroit-based HGTV show “Bargain Block,” are teaming up with several area nonprofits to raise money for new roofs in a Detroit neighborhood.

Bynum and Thomas are looking to raise $100,000 to replace 10 roofs in Detroit’s Fitzgerald neighborhood as an effort to “Roof The Block,” as the project is called.

“This initiative is really focusing in on the people that have lived in these neighborhoods for a long, long time, and to stay in their house, they need a new roof,” Bynum said in a video posted to the duo’s Instagram pages.

On “Bargain Block,” the team renovates old, often abandoned houses around the city of Detroit, doing the necessary repairs to make them safe and livable. They then sell those homes for $100,000 or more, with a focus on boosting the values across whole neighborhoods by working on clusters of houses. In the third and upcoming fourth season, the show is centered in the Fitzgerald neighborhood on the city’s west side.

Repairing roofs prevents water damage and and is one of the most important ways to stop homes from becoming unlivable, the effort says on its GoFundMe page.

Through their design office Nine Design and Homes, Bynum and Thomas have paired with nonprofit Brilliant Detroit and the Relentless Care Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Community Financial Credit Union, for the fundraiser.

On the show, Bynum and Thomas have flipped more than 50 homes, according to their Instagram post. The couple joins with Shea Hicks Whitfield, who serves as the real estate agent for the homes. Bynum and Thomas, who met in Colorado before moving to the area in 2017, even documented the process of flipping the Detroit home that would eventually become their own, including later renovations to expand on it.

The fundraiser, which can be found at www.gofundme.com/f/rooftheblock, had raised more than $4,300 in the first few hours after it was posted to social media.