Please don’t take this as NAR “puffery”, but I thought people might want to know about this. The people down South really need help.
REALTOR® RELIEF FOUNDATION PROVIDES FUNDS FOR KATRINA RELIEF EFFORT
WASHINGTON, DC (August 30, 2005)?The REALTOR® Relief Foundation is spearheading donations to REALTOR® associations in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi this week by contributing $50,000 to each of three state REALTOR® associations impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
REALTOR® Relief Foundation President Pat Kaplan said the initial contributions will help fund the establishment of state relief funds. “However, much more will be needed to help the many who have lost their homes or businesses,” she said.
“There are so many on the outskirts of New Orleans who have lost everything,” says Sandy Lash, an executive at the Louisiana Association of REALTORS® in Baton Rouge. The storm left 6-7 feet of water in areas around New Orleans, including Metairie and Kenner, where virtually every structure
sustained damage. “It will be weeks or months before full power is restored to these areas, and the entire water system in the area has been compromised,” says Lash.
In Alabama, communities around the Gulf, still recovering from Hurricane Ivan a year ago, are once more digging out. “We have thousands who lost everything in Ivan and had built their homes back up only to have them destroyed again,” says J. Danny Cooper, association executive at the Alabama
Association of REALTORS®.
NAR CEO Terrence M. McDermott is calling on Realtors® to reach out and help their colleagues in this time of tremendous need. “We would probably all like to run down and pitch in and help, but since that’s not possible, we should all pray that our Realtor® community finds the strength to make
it through this trial,” he says. “We ask that you send whatever you can to the REALTOR® Relief Foundation and we will pass your donation along in a rush.”
All administrative costs of the project will be absorbed by NAR; 100 percent of all donations will go directly to aid the victims. Contributions can be made online through the following secure site powered by NAR’s e-commerce system:
https://www.realtor.org/RelFundTrack.nsf. Contributions are tax deductible. To make contributions by mail, checks should be made payable to the REALTOR® Katrina Project and sent to: REALTOR® Katrina Relief Project, Attn: NAR Finance Division, 430 N. Michigan Ave.,Chicago IL 60611.
For those who would like to make donations directly to the states, in Alabama please send checks payable to the Alabama REALTOR® Disaster Relief Fund, P.O. Box 4070, Montgomery, AL 36104. Donations can be made by credit card by calling the Alabama Association of REALTORS® at
334/262-3808 or by going online to www.alabamarealtors.com/relief.cfm. For Louisiana, checks payable to the Louisiana REALTORS® Association
Relief Fund should be sent to P.O. Box 14780, Baton Rouge, LA, 70898, or to Regions Bank, attn: Louisiana REALTORS® Association Relief Fund, 5353 Essen Lane, Suite 150, Baton Rouge, LA 70809.
