Get Inspired!

REALTORS® give back to their community every day in Illinois

Helping the homeless make the transition from the streets to homeownership is something REALTOR® Mary Olson has been doing for the last 14 years in DuPage County. Olson, with Re/Max Associates West in Bartlett, has used her real estate expertise and good will to mentor homeless families first through Catholic Charities and for the last five years for Bridge Communities in Glen Ellyn.

The Bridge program takes two years for an individual to complete and while living in the program’s rental housing, participants learn life skills with opportunities for training and education to increase income, reduce debt and possibly even obtain homeownership.

“I feel like I learn a lot from the people I work with,” says Olson. “They are struggling so hard and they have so much strength to come up from being homeless to being self-sufficient.”

Olson’s work is one of many examples of REALTORS® giving back to their communities. We know it’s happening every day in neighborhoods all over the state. That’s why in January the Illinois Association of REALTORS® launched its “REALTORS® Renewing America” campaign calling on the association’s 53,000 members to renew and redouble their housing-related volunteer efforts. The IAR program was inspired in part by President Barack Obama’s “Renew America Together” public service initiative (www.usaservice.org). Throughout the campaign, IAR will serve as a clearinghouse for new and ongoing REALTOR® volunteerism related to housing and will provide specific opportunities for REALTORS® to serve.

The association’s award-winning foundation, Partnership for HomeOwnership, is exploring ways to expand its network of  HUD-certified housing counselors as well as apply for grants for workforce housing to provide safe, decent housing for people who cannot afford to live in the communities in which they work. These new efforts are in addition to Partnership’s first-time homebuyer initiatives in rural Illinois and Quincy (www.pfho.org).

“Illinois REALTORS® have a strong tradition of public service. But as President Obama has pointed out, these challenging times summon us to do even more for our fellow Americans who are in need,” says IAR President Pat Callan, broker-owner of Realty Executives Premiere in
Wheaton.

Habitat for Humanity projects are a popular way REALTORS® get hammer in hand to help homeowners. And such help is still needed along the Gulf Coast more than three years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In addition to homes built by REALTOR® volunteers on the IAR parking lot in 2006, each year the association’s Gulf Coast Recovery project has sent teams of Illinois REALTORS® to help rebuilding efforts in New Orleans, Alabama and Mississippi.

“REALTORS® understand that homeownership provides shelter and security for families and is the cornerstone of a healthy community,” says Springfield REALTOR® Phil Chiles who’s participated in every IAR Gulf Coast project.

The REALTOR® Association of NorthWest Chicagoland (RANWC) created a charitable foundation in 2004 called “Helping Our Heroes” (www. helpingourheroes.org) which has since helped 33 Illinois military families stay in their homes, granting over $33,000. The foundation also distributes care packages to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Regardless of one’s personal feeling about the war, we feel these soldiers are fighting to protect our freedom and appreciate anything and everything we do for them,” says Peggy Kayser, CAE, CIPS, RCE, chief executive officer of RANWC, who was recognized in 2009 by the National Association of REALTORS® with the Terry McDermott Community Leadership Award for her leadership related to this cause.

TELL US WHAT YOU’RE DOING
Go to www.illinoisrealtor.org/renew and complete an online form to tell us what you are already doing for housing-related community service and volunteer projects. And sign up for updates for the REALTORS® Renewing America campaign.

• Sarah Powers, President, Kankakee County Association, helps build homes and organize projects for area Habitat for Humanity projects
• Sam Theodore, Olympic Realty, Chicago, uses his social worker expertise to help REALTORS® understand homeless programs
• Kristen Jungles, Ryan Hill Realty, Naperville, and 15 members of Ryan Hill Realty helped build homes in Pass Christian, Mississippi
• Richard Quick, Black Bear Real Estate Services Inc., Elgin, serves as the Mass Care Lead for the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago
• Joan P. Hill, Joan Hill REALTORS®, Dolton, volunteer speaker at ACORN first-time homebuyer seminars and court-appointed child foster care advocate
• Nancy Sobol, Re/Max Traditions, Woodstock, delivers Meals on Wheels for 10+ years and a Red Cross Disaster Assessment Officer
• Mabel Guzman, Century21 SGR, Chicago, volunteers for a Homeless Ministry/Chicago Temple and IAR Gulf Coast Recovery
• Tammie Fleming, Prudential One Realty Centre, Granite City, leads a local chamber committee that organizes free mortgage assistance and homebuyer/seller seminars
• Michael Ritchie, @properties, Chicago, led an alumni group that raised $750,000 to save the 75-year-old home of the Sigma Nu Fraternity, University of Illinois
• Ron and Kat Becker, Century 21 American Dream, Antioch, sell homes for military personnel free-ofcharge (www.FreeForOurMilitary.com)
• Marissa Hopkins, Coldwell Banker, Highland Park, organizes free seminars for homeowners to make their existing homes more “green”
• McHenry County Association teamed up with county government for a Feb. 13 Housing Crisis Forum on foreclosures