2008 Good Neighbor Awards: Honorable Mentions

Honorable Mentions: 2008 Good Neighbor Awards

Good Neighbor honorable mentions contribute enormously to their communities.

By Wilma Gonzalez November 2008

Five REALTORS® were recognized by the Good Neighbor judges for honorable mention in 2008.

Mary E. Bacon CRS®, e-PRO®, Bob Parks Realty LLC, Mt. Juliet, Tenn.

The Mt. Juliet Help Center provides food and emergency assistance to those in dire need. In 2006, after serving the community for decades, the center lost its lease and was forced to shut down. Unwilling to accept the closure, Bacon found new office space and manned the center herself for six months in a 10-by-12-foot room. Today, with Bacon as president, the center serves 400 families a month, offering food and financial aid for utility bills, gas, and prescription medicine.

H. Burton Foster Century 21 Gold Standard, East Aurora, New York

After losing his 17-year-old son to cancer, Foster transformed his grief into a mission to help other families of children with the disease. In 1999 he created a foundation that relieves some of the financial burden families face when a parent must stop working to care for a child undergoing cancer treatment. The foundation has helped 250 families with grants of up to $2,500 each. When the worst happens, the foundation steps in to help with funeral costs.

Victor Kee ABR®, CRB, Pete Anderson Realty, Inc., Astoria, Ore.

For 16 years, Kee has run the Sunday Supper and Meals on Wheels program at Our Lady of Victory Church. He coordinates 120 volunteers from five local churches to cook, serve, and deliver food to 175 needy individuals each week, including the elderly and the homeless. Kee personally plans the menus, orders and picks up food, cooks, and recruits volunteers for the weekly church meal.

John Neibarger GRI, Key Properties, REALTORS®, Johnstown, Ohio

In 1996, Neibarger gathered a group of residents who shared his vision of building a public library for their small town of 3,500 residents. Neibarger raised $1.8 million for the project, served as volunteer general contractor, and often pounded a hammer himself to complete construction. The opening of the 6,800-square-foot library in 2006 meant that local children have a safe and intellectually stimulating gathering place offering educational programs, book clubs, and computer workstations.

David Pap Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Cambridge, Mass.

Pap is cofounder and chair of the Cambridge Housing Assistance Fund, which helps homeless and near-homeless families by providing one-time grants and matching funds for security deposits and first and last months' rent—amounts that are difficult for many working-poor families to save. Since 1999, the organization has raised more than $1.2 million and helped more than 1,300 families remain in their homes.

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