WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the last
19 years, the Good Neighbor Awards has recognized
Realtors® who make an incredible impact on their
community – or the world – through selfless, dedicated volunteer
work. The five individuals named this year's National Association
of Realtors® Good Neighbor Award winners serve as an
example of how Realtors® strengthen communities by
following their hearts and helping those in need.
The 2018 Good Neighbor Award winners are:
Omayra Borges, Reality Realty,
San Juan, Puerto Rico, for
Fundación Mochileando 100x35; Chet Choman, Colorado Realty and Land Co.
Alamosa, Colorado, for La
Puente Home Inc.; Jeremy
Lichtenstein, RE/MAX Realty Services, Bethesda, Maryland, for Kids in Need
Distributors; Joy Nelson, Haugan
Nelson Realty, Watertown, South
Dakota, for Joy Ranch;
and Elias Thomas III, Exit Key Real
Estate, Shapleigh, Maine, for
Rotary International.
"This year's Good Neighbors have inspired their communities and
made a lasting impact by going the extra mile to help others in
need," says NAR President Elizabeth
Mendenhall, CEO of RE/MAX Boone Realty in Columbia, Missouri. "These selfless
individuals remind us all of the true meaning, and importance, of
giving back to our communities."
Each of the five winners – selected by a multi-stage,
criteria-based judging process – will receive a $10,000 grant for their charity and will be
featured in the November-December issue of
REALTOR® Magazine. The recipients will
also be presented with crystal trophies on Saturday, November 3, during the 2018
REALTORS® Conference & Expo in Boston.
Read the winner profiles and watch the videos at nar.realtor/gna
or at the links below:
Omayra Borges,
Reality Realty, San Juan, Puerto
Rico
Borges co-founded nonprofit Fundacion Mochileando 100x35, to
bring hope after the destruction of Hurricane Maria. She focused on
remote mountain villages, some of the regions hit hardest by last
summer's storm, delivering essentials like water and medicine and
repairing homes across the island. She has raised $1.1 million and helped over 45,000 people in
Puerto Rico.
mochileando.com
Chet Choman,
Colorado Realty and Land Co., Alamosa,
Colorado
Choman co-founded one of the first rural homeless shelters in the
country and has dedicated 40 years to fighting homelessness and
hunger. Today, La Puente Home
is a 45-bed shelter that also operates after-school programs and 15
food pantries, serving about 16,000 people annually—that's about
one out of every three people in a six-county area larger than
Massachusetts.
lapuente.net
Jeremy Lichtenstein,
RE/MAX Realty Services, Bethesda,
Maryland
When Lichtenstein realized that thousands of children didn't have
enough to eat in his wealthy Washington,
D.C., suburb, he sprang into action. The nonprofit
organization Kids in Need Distributors (KIND) he founded in
2012 has grown from providing weekend food for 37 students at one
public school to now serving some 2,100 children across 25 area
schools. kindinmd.org
Joy C. Nelson, Haugan
Nelson Realty, Watertown, South
Dakota
Nelson founded Joy Ranch to
create a home for underserved people, offering countless
opportunities for recreation, therapy and education. The
barrier-free, ADA-accessible ranch is a place where people of any
ability can go horseback riding and enjoy other outdoor activities
without being limited by medical concerns.
joyranchsd.org
Elias Thomas III,
GRI, Exit Key Real Estate, Shapleigh,
Maine
For 40 years, Thomas has led The Rotary Foundation,
organizing trips to India to
immunize over 500 children against polio and build a system of dams
to provide villagers with access to clean water. He has led more
than 350 Rotarians from around the world on these trips, raising
more than $350,000 along the way.
rotary.org
In addition to the winners, five Realtors® have been
recognized as Good Neighbor Award honorable mentions and will each
receive $2,500 grants:
Annette Evans, Berkshire
Hathaway HomeServices New Jersey Properties, Livingston, New Jersey, 30-year board member
for JESPY House Inc.; Necia T.
Freeman, Old Colony REALTORS® of
Huntington, Barboursville, West Virginia, founder of
Backpacks & Brown Bags; Richard
Harris, Richard Harris
& Associates Inc., Palm Harbor,
Florida, president of the Arc Tampa Bay; Michael LaFargue, Coldwell Banker
Residential, Chicago, president of
West Chesterfield Community Association; and Jack Persin, Baird
Warner, Naperville,
Illinois, co-founder of Naperville Responds for
Veterans.
In September, the public voted for its favorite Good Neighbor
Award finalist, crowning this year's "Web Choice Favorites." A
total of 165,000 votes were cast. This year's Web Choice Favorites
are Michael LaFargue, who will receive an additional
$2,500 bonus donation for the
West Chesterfield Community Association and the Redline
Extension and Necia Freeman and Joy Nelson, who
will each receive additional $1,250
bonus donations for Backpacks and Brown
Bags and Joy Ranch. The Web Choice Favorite voting
and bonus grants are courtesy of
realtor.com®.
"The Realtors® recognized as Good Neighbors are
outstanding examples of the commitment to community that's so
important in the real estate industry,"
said realtor.com® CEO Ryan
O'Hara. "Home is everything to us
at realtor.com®, and that's a value we share with
each and every one of NAR's members. Realtor.com®
is proud to sponsor the Good Neighbor Awards program, and we look
forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with the
industry as we work together to make meaningful connections between
consumers and Realtors®."
NAR's Good Neighbor Awards is supported by primary sponsor
realtor.com® and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. Nominees
were judged on their personal contribution of time as well as
financial and material contributions to benefit their cause. To be
eligible, nominees must be NAR members in good standing.
The Good Neighbor Awards have been granted annually since
2000. More than $1.1
million in grants have been awarded to the winners'
charities. More information about the Good Neighbor Awards winners
is available at www.realtor.org/gna.
Realtor.com® is the trusted
resource for home buyers, sellers and dreamers, offering the most
comprehensive database of for-sale properties, among competing
national sites, and the information, tools and professional
expertise to help people move confidently through every step of
their home journey. As the official site of the National
Association of
Realtors®, realtor.com® pioneered
the world of digital real estate 20 years ago, and today helps make
all things home simple, efficient and
enjoyable. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp
[NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move Inc. For more
information, visit realtor.com®.
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is one of the leading
originators and servicers of residential mortgages,
offering home loans to consumers through the country's largest
network of mortgage locations and bank branches, online, and via
phone. With more than 6,000 Home Mortgage Consultants
across the country, expanded digital capabilities, and products and
programs for today's market, Wells Fargo is committed to meeting
Realtor® expectations and homebuyer needs. Focused
on a culture of caring for communities, Wells Fargo is a proud
sponsor of two NAR programs that recognize extraordinary
contributions made by Realtors® in the communities
where we, together, live and serve—the Volunteering Works mentoring
program and the Good Neighbor Awards.
The National Association of Realtors® is America's
largest trade association, representing over 1.3 million members
involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real
estate industries.
Information about NAR is available at www.nar.realtor.
This and other news releases are posted in the "News, Blogs and
Videos" tab on the website.
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SOURCE National Association of Realtors