Jason Robertson

After tornados hit both McMinn and Monroe counties in late November of last year, Jason Robertson’s actions were described as “nothing short of remarkable and heroic.”

Robertson is the owner of Southern Construction and Erosion Solutions. He and his crews opened blocked roads and cut new roads to facilitate the removal of the injured. He built a new road to the communications tower owned by the Athens Utilities Board that suffered a direct hit by the tornado. His crews cleared a 10 acre wooded tract that was filled with tornado debris, as well as several home sites and even helped find temporary housing for those rendered homeless by the storm.

He and his crews worked 16-hour days for the first couple of weeks after the tornado. He did all of this without charging anyone or any entity. If his contributions were to be valued monetarily, the value would be over $100,000. Not only did he use his own equipment, he paid his men overtime for their work. Instead of spending his own resources helping his fellow man, he could have been on other paying jobs, but he chose others over himself.

Jason and his wife, Mandy, are members of First Baptist Church of Athens. They have three sons, Tucker, Brack and Miles and one daughter, Elle.