Tom Roesch’s Angels from Parsons Avenue is a pre-apprenticeship program for at-risk youth.                                                                                                                    CT photo by Tim Puet 


Catholic Business Spotlight
Businessman’s goal: building lives via building trades

By Tim Puet
Catholic Times Reporter

A businessman from Columbus’ south side is planning to give back to his community by starting a pre-apprenticeship program to teach skilled trades to at-risk youth.

Tom Roesch, whose company, Iron Fortress Security, provides security systems for homes and businesses, is working with the YouthBuild Columbus Community School of Columbus to develop a curriculum in which 10 young people will split time between the classroom and Roesch’s business and learn basic welding and metal fabrication.

YouthBuild is a charter school where at-risk students work toward a high school diploma while learning job skills in areas such as construction or health care.

“I’m going to start the school year with five students here in the shop learning welding for a week, then going to school for a week, returning here for a week and so forth. Five more will reverse that pattern, starting at school for a week, then coming here and continuing to alternate between school and shop,” Roesch said. “I’m hoping to add more to the curriculum because I mastered all sorts of trade skills while working in the residential real estate business, but we’ll start with welding.

“I’ve lived and worked most of my life in the south side, and I see all these beautiful inner-city children who start out with such promise, but everything is stacked against them,” Roesch said. “The kids here need something to keep them focused and to give them some hope for the future, and the community needs a greater sense of safety and security.

“I want those kids to learn to be calm, especially when making mistakes; to have fun; to give them mentorship and good counsel so they can take pride in what they’re doing and in their appearance. Once the program gets started, maybe we can have some physical education classes, and I can teach them the lessons I’ve learned from being an entrepreneur.” 

Roesch has given his pre-apprenticeship program the name Angels From Parsons Avenue because his shop is located at 2000 Parsons Ave.  

“I remember looking across the street one time and telling someone, ‘Wouldn’t it be something if a flock of angels swooped down and said to the business owners, “We are here to help you. We appreciate you being here.” We need to keep those core businesses here,” he said.

That conversation resulted in the name Angels From Parsons Avenue for the program, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The program is the subject for Franklin University’s summer quarter class on marketing of such organizations.

Roesch wants the program to fulfill his vision by providing customized security and property solutions at little or no charge to South Side homeowners and businesses who can’t afford such improvements. Participants in the pre-apprenticeship program would put those solutions together.

Roesch in the past year has donated his services to Bikes for All People at 934 Parsons Ave. and the Columbus Historical Society at 717 W. Town St. and to several elderly neighbors.

He doesn’t believe in what he calls “the jailhouse look” of door and window security bars, and his work shows it. Bikes for All People’s security system looks more like an art installation, displaying a family of cyclists, plus sunrays and clouds, all crafted from metal. The historical society’s window and door screens feature a sunray design, as do security bars made by Iron Fortress Security for Shade’s Restaurant on the south side.

Roesch’s work also is featured at the Hotel St. Clair Apartments on the city’s east side, where performers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Sammy Davis Jr. stayed when appearing in Columbus at a time when some hotels would not admit Black guests. The outside of the building features Roesch’s handcrafted Venetian Gothic-style iron fencing and gates.

Roesch, 65, grew up on Columbus’ southeast side as a member of Christ the King Church and has three older brothers and two younger sisters. He and his wife of 26 years, Mary (Cassidy) Roesch, are members of Columbus Corpus Christi Church. They graduated from Columbus Bishop Hartley High School, as did their daughters, Tess and Sophie. 

After high school, “I tried college but was destined for the business world,” Tom Roesch said. “I was always good with my hands, so I got into construction and eventually became a construction supervisor for Winslow Homes. I got my ‘college’ there. My job had me do everything they didn’t subcontract out. This included things like installing drain tile around the footers of buildings by hand and digging sump pumps. That got me interested in buying distressed housing in the inner city, improving it and selling it – what people now know as ‘flipping’ houses.”

He was a house flipper before it was fashionable for about 30 years. During that time, he gained much more of the construction knowledge he hopes to pass on to young people. “Some fantastic housing inspectors took me under their wing when I screwed up,” he said. “I honed my electric, plumbing, roofing and welding skills. I’d often bring a mattress and a hot plate to a house I was rehabbing and live there until the job was done.”

Roesch switched careers after the recession of 2008. “I learned some very expensive lessons,” he said. “I loved developing real estate but never used a real estate agent. I was self-taught, learning how to creatively acquire, develop, sell, trade and put options on property with no money down. Most projects I purchased in the inner city were distressed in some fashion. Vandalism, robbery and burglary were a common occurrence, so I realized the need for home security and reinvented myself.” 

When he founded Iron Fortress Security in 2012, his main product was steel cages for air conditioners. The cages now make up about 20 percent of his business, as he has combined his problem-solving talent with his skills in design and engineering to do more specialty work. He also said all his business purchases are made with neighborhood merchants, even if it means spending more than if he would buy supplies from larger stores such as Home Depot and Lowe’s.

Roesch said his donated work for Bikes for All People, an outreach of the United Methodist Church for All People, which is adjacent to the bike shop, would have cost about $18,000. It was not supposed to be a donation, but he said the church would not pay that amount, and he wanted to provide more than the “jailhouse look.”

“I needed the work,” he said. “And I learned that if I donated my services, I could get a tax credit. So I went ahead with the project, designing it on nights and weekends, and everyone’s been very pleased with the result.

“That and my work with the historical society and elderly homeowners got me thinking about all the people who could use the services I provide but can’t afford it, and that led to Angels From Parsons Avenue.”

All the financing for the new organization has come from Roesch so far. He needs sponsors if he is to attain his goals. 

“My regular business took a big hit from the coronavirus,” he said. “I’m hoping there are businesses and individuals who want to see this neighborhood’s businesses prosper and would like to be able to say that they helped by being part of Angels From Parsons Avenue. It’s good business, but it also will provide donors with a tax deduction and the satisfaction of knowing they’ve made an impact and can see the results in real time.   

“All my life, I’ve felt a sense of God’s presence protecting me, especially since my father died in 1999,” he said. “He’s been guiding me, and I talk to Him daily. That’s why I was determined to have my kids go to Catholic schools. The strength of that presence makes me know that someone has my back and makes me aware of how much I have to be thankful for.

“I want to reach out and express this through my ministry to the kids who will be coming here, in the hope it will make them aware that there are consequences to what they do and rewards if they do it the right way.”