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Five winners will be selected from among the 10 finalists and will receive travel expenses to the 2010 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in New Orleans, national media exposure for their community cause, and a $10,000 grant for their charity. The five honorable mentions will receive a $2,500 grant. The winners will be announced in the November/December issue of REALTOR® Magazine and at REALTOR® Magazine Online.
James Arnhold, Source Realty, LLC, Virginia Beach, Va.
Arnhold has supported EQUI-KIDS Therapeutic Riding Program, an organization that offers therapy to people with mental and physical disabilities, since 2002, when he and his partner donated 92 acres of land for its move and expansion. He supervised the facility’s construction, including an indoor horse-riding arena to allow therapy year-round. He has also headed the Capital Campaign and raised more than $3 million for the organization. Currently, 70 students a week work with the horses to improve self-confidence, fine motor skills, balance, concentration, and social skills.
Keri Kidd Cannon and Pam Kidd, Fridrich & Clark Realty LLC, Nashville, Tenn.
This mother and daughter team have been helping people in Zimbabwe since 1999, traveling to this struggling African country more than 20 times. They founded Village Hope, a rural orphanage that cares for 20 children and also founded an outreach program for street children and homeless adults in the capital city of Harare. They feed 900 school children per day as well as hundreds of people from surrounding villages. Their agricultural programs provide seed corn and farm animals and teach farming techniques. They recently helped launched a dental clinic and are training locals to provide basic dental care.
Cathie McGregor Critchlow, The Franklin Group Morgan LLC, Morgan, Utah
Critchlow is president and co-founder of The Women’s Retreat House, a live-in spiritual 12-Step retreat home that houses up to 20 women at a time for up to four months while they overcome addiction. Critchlow manages the all-volunteer staff and works hands-on with the residents to help them overcome their addictions and assess their needs for counseling, parenting classes, job training, medical attention, and domestic violence counseling. More than 275 women have been served since the retreat house opened its doors in 2008.
James T. Elcock, Elcock Properties, St. Charles, Mo.
Elcock founded Kids Against Hunger, Metro St. Charles/St. Louis satellite to provide nutritionally rich food to fight hunger in the U.S. and abroad. Since 2009 he has distributed 550,000 meals — locally through the St. Louis Food Bank, for disaster relief in the U.S. and Haiti, and internationally to countries suffering from chronic hunger including Nicaragua and Uganda. Elcock has involved more than 3,000 volunteers in food packaging events, which are organized to assemble the unique rice-based recipe that costs only 23 cents a serving.
Janice Mueller, RE/MAX Creative Realty, Lexington, Ky.
Mueller founded the Makenna Foundation, which in nine years has raised more than $1.2 million and is the largest fundraiser for the Kentucky Children’s Hospital. Funds have provided state-of-the-art medical equipment and much-needed renovations. In July 2010, the foundation celebrated the grand opening of the Makenna David Pediatric Emergency Center, with a child-friendly waiting room and 15 state-of-the-art exam rooms.
Joseph D. Perry, RE/MAX–Gold, Clovis, Calif.
Ten years ago, Perry founded an after-school mentoring and tutoring program, Boys2Men Girls2Women, which now serves 125 children, ages 6 to 18. Most children are from low-income single-parent households in Fresno, Calif., where the dropout rate is one of the highest in the country and 35 percent of children live below the poverty level. The program pairs each child with caring mentors and provides homework assistance, individualized tutoring and leadership development classes.
Dave Philp, Coldwell Banker Burnet, Chaska, Minn.
For more than 25 years, Philp has supported the Ridgeview Foundation, the fundraising arm of the Ridgeview Medical Center, a nonprofit regional health care network in the western suburbs of Minneapolis. Philp has raised $3 million through annual golf tournaments and other events; that money has been critical to building a state-of-the-art birthing center, neonatal care unit, a hospice home, a heart center, and a scholarship fund to address the shortage of healthcare workers.
Thomas Joseph Rempson, T.R. Lawing Realty Inc., Charlotte, N.C.
Rempson founded Realtors® Care Day, a community-wide home repair project run through the Charlotte Regional REALTOR® Association that helps deserving homeowners with critical but unaffordable home repairs and safety modifications. In 2010, more than 700 Realtors® worked at 31 homes making repairs, replacing roofs and building wheelchair ramps. Rempson facilitated partnerships with other local housing nonprofits to identify people who needed help and partnered with a company to recycle roof shingles into asphalt for local roads.
Wendy & John Rocca, Century 21 Commonwealth, Watertown, Mass.
The Roccas founded Operation American Soldier in 2003 while their daughter was deployed in Iraq. OAS sends “cheer” packages and letters of support to soldiers, especially those who otherwise would receive nothing at mail call. More than 30,000 pounds have been sent overseas, filled with snacks, beverages, books, magazines and other fun items. Each box also contains a letter asking if the soldier knows of anyone else who is not receiving support from home who would appreciate a package. The Roccas have spent more than $15,000 of their own money on postage and goods.
Kim Turley, Prudential California Realty, Yucaipa, Calif.
In 1998 Turley founded Joseph’s Storehouse Food Bank and Resource Center, now called The Blessing Center, which provides food and clothing for distressed families in Redlands, Calif. The center now serves 9,000 people per month within a 30-mile radius, and involves volunteers from more than 20 local churches and dozens of civic groups. They provide Thanksgiving dinner for 1,500 needy families and recently acquired a 10,000 square-foot building, which will house a cold-weather homeless shelter.
ABOUT THE GOOD NEIGHBOR AWARDS
REALTOR® Magazine’s Good Neighbor Awards program, celebrating its 11th year, recognizes REALTORS® who are making an extraordinary commitment to community service. Since 2000, the Good Neighbor Awards has honored nearly 100 REALTORS®, supporting their efforts to improve the quality of life for others.
In late October, five winners will be selected from among the 10 finalists and will receive travel expenses to the 2010 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in New Orleans, national media exposure for their community cause, a $10,000 grant for their charity, and a $2,000 gift card from Good Neighbor sponsor Lowe’s. The five Good Neighbor honorable mentions will each receive a $2,500 grant, plus a $1,000 Lowe’s gift card. The winners will be announced in the November/December issue of REALTOR® Magazine Online.
For more information, visit REALTOR.org/gna.