By Susanne Dwyer
With Hurricane Harvey rescue efforts underway in Southeast Texas, REALTORS® from all corners of the country are stepping up to provide relief.
The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) is encouraging its members to donate to the REALTORS® Relief Foundation (RRF), which provides housing assistance for disaster victims.
“There will be many families in the Greater Houston area who need our help,” said NAR President Bill Brown in a statement. “It will take time to know the full impact of Hurricane Harvey, but we know the devastation will be widespread and that our support will be necessary.”
“This may require our REALTOR® family’s largest effort since Hurricane Katrina—or even 9/11,” wrote Martin Edwards, president of the RRF, in an internal memo to NAR directors and staff. “Hopefully, REALTORS® across America will heed the call to donate without precedent, as the on-the-ground membership in Texas will be stretched beyond belief.”
Indeed real estate brokerages directly in and surrounding the path of the storm as well as from around the country are extending support. Local brokerages including Coldwell Banker D’Ann Harper, REALTORS®, ERA Colonial Real Estate and Latter & Blum, Inc. REALTORS® shared some of their experiences.
Many affiliates of D’Ann Harper steered their boats toward Houston to help rescue stranded residents, says President Leesa Harper Rispoli, and the company is working to transport much-needed supplies, as well.
“Our company is working with the Red Cross and pet/animal shelters for donations,” Harper Rispoli says. “We have had several agents team together and take their boats to Houston to assist in the water rescue. We also have had many offices and agents come together to take supplies to the Port Aransas and Rockport area.
“This catastrophic event has affected not only our agents and families, but several of our sister companies along the coast,” says Harper Rispoli. “Our great franchisor of Coldwell Banker has pledged to match donated funds for our sister companies to rebuild. It is great to be surrounded by support and giving hearts. We believe we are one family…together!”
ERA Colonial launched a fundraiser for the Houston Food Bank, with the goal of raising $7,700—a cause, and sum, near and dear to CEO Tom DeWine’s heart.
“The Houston Food Bank is such a local and longstanding group, and I wanted to make sure we focused on something that was very local,” DeWine says. “We set a relatively modest goal—I picked a zip code that I had lived in when I was in Houston in the late ’90s, and when I knew that a lot of flooding was occurring [there], I set the first four numbers of that zip code, 7700, as the goal.”
ERA Colonial has achieved approximately 38 percent of its goal (at press time), and will match up to 50 percent of donations, with net proceeds going to the Houston Food Bank. The fundraiser is open now through the next two weeks on YouCaring.
The company is also lending a hand through an upcoming philanthropic event, its 19th Annual Fish Fry and 5K Fun Run Walk,
From:: Finance and Economy
