REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-Celebrating a Decade of Good Neighbors

OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Search REALTORMag...

OR FOCUS YOUR SEARCH

NEWS & COMMENTARY

Inside For Brokers

Connect

Social Networking

Follow, fan, or friend us online.

Your Magazine

Magnifying your voice and celebrating your accomplishments

CURRENT ISSUE

PAST ISSUES

Daily Real Estate News | November 16, 2009 | Celebrating a Decade of Good Neighbors
At the 2009 Conference General Session Saturday, audience members wiped the tears from their eyes and rose to their feet to congratulate REALTOR® Magazine’s Good Neighbor Awards winners. For 10 years, the program has honored REALTORS® who make exceptional contributions to improve the quality of life for others in their community and around the world.

“Their work has been especially impactful in an environment where need is growing and donations are declining,” said 2009 NAR President Charles McMillan. The 2009 awards were made possible through the support of founding sponsor eNeighborhoods, Homes.com, Lowe’s, and HouseLogic. The five winners each received a $10,000 grant for their cause and a $1,500 Lowe’s gift card.

The 2009 winners are:

Greg Adamson, Prudential Utah Real Estate, American Fork, Utah: Since 2004, Adamson has been renovating and rebuilding homes for needy families. So far, he has worked on 12 homes and raised $2.5 million in donations and materials from the community. Adamson’s organization, Heart 2 Home Foundation also converted a 31-foot trailer into a mobile medical unit to serve the uninsured.
Cindy Johnson, Dona Christensen Realty, Woodbury, Minn.: For more than 20 years, Johnson has been a volunteer advocate at the local, state, and national level for The Arc, an organization that helps people with intellectual and physical disabilities get the services they need to live a full life. Her efforts impacts 15 million people nationwide and enables people with disabilities to live, learn, and work in their own communities.
Helen Marotto, EXIT Homeplace Realty, Hampstead, N.C.: Marotto has been a court–appointed advocate for more than 150 abused and neglected children over the past decade. She focuses diligently on fulfilling children’s individual needs, whether that means obtaining high-quality medical care for a disabled child or hunting down the long-lost relatives who will take custody.
Regina Ragon, Prudential Realty Center, Flintstone, Ga.: Ragon works with the residents of two Nicaraguan villages, helping them to improve their living conditions. She helped set up a sewing cooperative in one village so local women could sew school uniforms and earn income and supported village schools, providing electricity, computers.
Samuel Thomas, Jr., Imani Realty & Associates, Willingboro, N.J.: Thomas founded Quest Ministries in 1977 and has worked for 32 years as volunteer executive director to support the most vulnerable citizens of Willingboro, N.J. Quest provides hot meals and emergency food assistance to 200 people a week and provides 700 holiday “Love Baskets” every year.

The 2009 honorable mention winners are Margaret Pruitt Clark, Ken Meade Realty Inc., Surprise, Ariz.; Diana Croteau, Sun Mountain Properties, Williams, Ariz.; David E. Dalzell, CRB, CRS®, GRI, Dalzell REALTORS®, Abilene, Tex.; Michelle M. Phaup, Clarkston Realty Inc., Clarkston, Mich.; and Jeffrey Davidson Schrager, Realty Blue Inc., Fresno, Calif.

—Katherine Tarbox, REALTOR® Magazine