RSS Blog FeedREALTORS® COMBINE RESOURCES AND KNOWLEDGE TO HELP KATRINA EVACUEES
Posted at 9:24 AM, Sep. 8, 2005
WASHINGTON (September 7, 2005)The National Association of Realtors® has raised $2,324,657 for the Realtors® Relief Foundation to provide emergency relief for hurricane victims in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, including displaced Realtors®. The foundation has received 5,906 donations totaling $1,174,657, which will be added to NARs $1.15 million seed donation.
Every penny that we raise will make its way to someone in need, said NAR President Al Mansell of Salt Lake City, UT. Not one cent will be spent on administrative costs.
Realtor® associations throughout the South have helped create tools to facilitate the search for evacuee housing. The Louisiana Realtors® Association has launched www.HurricaneHousing.net. On this site, Realtors® and property owners can submit available properties in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, and people displaced by the hurricane can search the database directly. Realtor® members in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas are combing their records and contacts to locate every available bit of spare inventory that could be used to house people displaced by the storm and its aftermath. Many of these associations have developed a special information template that Realtors® can use to forward the information to the Federal Emergency Management Agency through the National Emergency Resource Registry at www.swern.govthe U.S. Department of Homeland Security will use this data to help coordinate relocation efforts.
State and local sites have been developed, as well. The Houston Association of Realtors®, in partnership with local media and other organizations, has launched project Make a Home. At www.har.com, visitors can apply for shelter, donate shelter, and find short-term lease and volunteer opportunities. The Traverse Area Association of Realtors® in Michigan is coordinating and maintaining a community information Web site for Northern Michigan hurricane relief efforts. The site, www.mikatrinahelp.com, will be a directory of available services for refugees and will include information about housing, health, social services, transportation, and schools.
Mansell remarked, Realtors® are not only opening their wallets; they are scouring their databases and contacts to locate vacant homes, condos, apartments, and mobile parks, as well as other space such as warehouses, houses, schools, churches, and empty commercial buildingsanything that can house Hurricane Katrina evacuees for a week, a month, six months, or even longer.
Realtors® are finding many ways to help Katrina victims. The Virginia Association of Realtors® worked with Sams Club and Lowes Home Improvement to assemble materials such as bottled water, non-perishable food items, personal hygiene products, and home repair items and delivered them via truck to the Mississippi Emergency Management Authority in Jackson, MS this weekend.
In their own communities, Realtors® are reaching out to evacuees. The Tuscaloosa, AL Association of Realtors® has asked all brokerages to identify openings for clerical staff as well as displaced Realtors®. The Lehigh Valley Association of Realtors® in Pennsylvania is coordinating with the Lehigh Valley Red Cross to compile rental properties for longer term assistance. In the small town of Columbia, MO, 82 evacuees have already arrived. The Columbia Board of Realtors® has pledged, through its foundation, to cover upfront costs for displaced families and is paying for vouchers for hotel rooms to provide temporary shelter.
Contributions to the Realtors® Relief Foundation can be made online through the following secure site powered by NARs e-commerce system: https://www.realtor.org/RelFundTrack.nsf/Contribution?OpenForm.
Contributions are tax deductible. To make contributions by mail, checks should be made payable to the Realtors® Relief Foundation and sent to: Realtors® Relief Foundation, Attn: NAR Finance Division, 430 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611.
The National Association of Realtors®, The Voice for Real Estate, is Americas largest trade association, representing more than 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.