Making a Difference in Your Community
The emails and stories continue to come in highlighting the various charity programs and organizations Stewart offices support. Big or small, every donation of time, money or goods makes a difference in someone else's life. Thank you for all you do to make a difference in your community!
Kim Herman's daughter Kaileen and some of her friends recently made bracelets to raise money for the American Red Cross Haitian relief efforts. Kim is an examiner in the Central States Regional Production Center, Click here to watch the news story on Chicago's ABC affiliate.
What can you do?
We urge you to help make a difference by contributing to a charity of your choice. Through our Sharing Our Strength campaign, Stewart supports a number of international charities currently working to help on the ground in Haiti, including the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and United Way.
By making a donation, you help provide essential, life-saving supplies, such as food, water, tents, first-aid kits and more. So please give today and keep the children and families affected by the earthquake in your thoughts and prayers.
ST North Texas associates held a pet food drive at their Fall Associate Rally to donate to Ani-Meals. Ani-Meals is part of the Johnson County Meals-on-Wheels program, providing homebound seniors and disabled individuals food for themselves and for their pet companions. For many a pet is the only family member they may have, and they provide unconditional love, joy and friendship for these members of the community.
The dedication of the new Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at the Children's Hospital in New Orleans included a patient room named in honor of the associates of ST of Louisiana. Associates donated money for each file that was closed in 2008, with over $20,000 donated to the Unit. Roger Gorman, the Hospital's Director of Development said, "Given the current economic climate, you and your employees have done a remarkable job in raising money for our hospital, and we are grateful for your efforts." He went on to say, "You held fast to your commitment to the children we serve. For that, we will always be grateful."
The Anchorage office recently shared their community service project, teaming up with United Title Guaranty to Paint the Town.Paint the Town is an annual program through Neighbor Works, where people in the community nominate a fellow resident in need of having their home painted. Nominess must meet certain criteria and be the homeowner, but the focus is to assist low income and disabled families.Office Manager Samantha Buchite said, "We had an overwhelming response from our associates to volunteer that we were able to paint the house in just one day." "The organization does such a wonderful job in helping families in need, that this is the third year we have participated."
For the third year, ST of Lubbock held a Christmas party for children of a local shelter. Removed from their homes by Children's Protective Services, the Lubbock associates donate gifts, arrange a visit by Santa, enjoy games, pizza and ice cream with the children. The most rewarding for the associates is the giving of their time for these children, so deserving of love and attention.
Lubbock associates don't just give of their time at the holidays, they also shared their spring cleaning project. When the office relocated last year, they held a company-wide garage sale to raise money for the local Homes for Vets organization. At that time, Homes for Vets was building a home for a disabled veteran and they were asking the community for donations to help fund the home. Associates brought their goods to the office, advertised they were raising money for the local vet, and were able to donate over $1,000 for the project.
Thank you to the Lubbock associates for their continued support of their community and those less fortunate.
For the fourth year in a row, Susan Wilkins, Vice President, Strategic Alliance Manager and Clarissa Horner, Support Coordinator, participated in their local Operation Christmas Child charity, a project of Samaritan's Purse. During the holidays, Operation Christmas Child delivers millions of gift-filled shoe boxes to needy children in over 100 nations; bringing joy and hope to some of the world's poorest communities. This year, over 7.9 million boxes were distributed.
"We are fortunate that each year we've been able to increase our donation. This year we filled 24 boxes with toys, school supplies and hygiene products for two, three and four year old children." said Susan.
Susan G. Komen Foundation 2009 Fall Fundraising
Gracy Title raised over $700 on National Denim Day for breast cancer awareness. They also raised $2,000 for the local Susan G. Komen affiliate at the Austin Realty Roundup event. Gracy Title associates raffled donated energy audits, sold t-shirts, provided Komen information and registered Race for the Cure participants.
The Home Office/Houston team raised over $15,500 for the Houston affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. This amount resulted from Team Stewart's hard work, online contributions and pink shirt and jeans day, which included a drawing for vendor-donated prizes. Furthermore, Alison Evers, a three-time breast cancer survivor, raised the most money for the Houston team, almost $8,000.
Galveston County office associates participated in the D'Feet Breast Cancer "Celebration of Life" 5K through the grounds of Moody Gardens and Schlitterbahn Waterpark this past Fall.
December 2009 - Stewart Title North Texas helps the one's who can't speak.
Stewart Title of North Texas, the nation's third largest underwriter in the Title Industry, organized their very first community involvement event, "Barking for Blankets and Meowing for Food Drive". As shelters in their area saw a dramatic increase in homeless animals over the past year, Stewart Title North Texas asked their customers, prospects and the community to help save the lives of homeless animals caused by foreclosures by asking for donations and foster families to take animals.
The drive began in December of 2009 and continued through January 8, 2010 generating approximately 15 bags of dog food, five bags of cat food, one blanket and a $20 donation. They are still collecting. Their event was promoted to their real estate agent customers and prospects with marketing materials (emails and flyers) and they also used their local Greater Lewisville Area Realtor's Association to help spread the word.
Stewart Title was the drop-off point for the drive and they delivered all of the donations to numerous animal shelters across Denton County. All donations went toward providing the numerous existing homeless animal shelters across Denton County with the ability to support and enhance their organizations' outreach, missions, goals and objectives.
- Flower Mound - http://www.fmhs.org/home.aspx
- Flower Mound - 972-874-6390 http://www.flower-mound.com/animals/animals_pets.php
- Lewisville - 972-219-3478 http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/TX470.html
- Denton - 940-349-7594 http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/denton.html
Spring 2009 - Stewart Title of Lubbock has a garage sale and raises over $1000 for local veteran.
Last spring 2009, Stewart Title of Lubbock read in their local newspaper that an organization called "Homes for Vets" was building a house for a local veteran who had lost his legs and was confined to a wheelchair. The home was customized to fit his special needs and the non-profit organization was asking the community for donations to help fund the veteran's new home.
Since Stewart Title of Lubbock had recently moved from three offices into one big office, they realized they had lots of equipment they no longer needed and decided to help with donations by having a garage sale. They asked all associated to search their attics, basements and garages and bring all their unwanted items to put in the sale, along with all the extra items they had at the office. They then advertised the garage sale as a fund raiser for the soldier in their local paper and spread the word with their customers, friends, family and colleagues by passing out flyers, sending emails and making phone calls.
The garage sale was held at the Stewart Title of Lubbock office on Saturday, May 16, 2009 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and despite the drizzle, cold and windy weather, approximately 125 people showed up throughout the day.
The garage sale was a big success, and Stewart Title of Lubbock raised over $1000 for their local veteran!
Stewart Title Northern New England Bowls for Charity!
Stewart Title Northern New England, who's mission is to deliver a magnificent customer experience through innovation in the real estate transaction process, took part in the Strafford County Board of REALTORS® (SCBR) yearly Bowl-A-Thon. Stewart Title is an active affiliate of SCBR and most Stewart Title employees are members with Pamela Ziadeh, Sales Manager, being the Co-Chair. Held on St. Patrick's Day 2010, the Bowl-A-Thon is run once a year and supports the Cocheco Valley Humane Society, which is a service that shelters animals and puts them up for adoption. There were nine teams with an average of five members per team that consisted of real estate offices as well as other affiliates such as Stewart Title. Stewart Title had seven members to their team and each employee worked hard at raising money for the event by contacting their customers, colleagues, friends and family prior to the event.
This year's Bowl-a-thon was a huge success and raised a total of $1,750. Stewart Title raised the most by bringing in $500. They received recognition from the SCBR board the very next day.
All proceeds will go to the Cocheco Valley Humane Society to help run their facility.
Stewart Title of Louisiana Donated Over $16,000 to a Local Charity
In order to raise money for one of the premier heart-surgery programs in the Southeast, Stewart Title of Louisiana began donating $20 per closing in early 2008 to the Children's Hospital Cardiac Intensive Care Unit Fund, and has donated over $16,500 as of August 2008. Stewart Title of Louisiana has raised over $16,500 and plans to raise a total of $25,000 by the end of the first year. Within the first 60 days, the office received about five title orders as a direct result of the campaign.
"It is such a good feeling to be part of a worthwhile and needed community project. The Cardiac Unit was set up for 9-10 surgeries a month. After the first month, 30+ surgeries were performed in that Cardiac Unit," said chief operating officer Sharall B. Grissen of Stewart Title of Louisiana. "Our customers love that we support this project. And our employees love it, too," she added.
Matthew W. Morris (Matt) completes the Houston Marathon!
Matt is President of Stewart Professional Solutions, the business group in SISCO aligned to provide best-in-class support services to Stewart Title Guaranty, Stewart Title and their affiliates.
Matt completed the 2010 Chevron Houston Marathon running on the Living Water International Team. The team raised over $60,000 to provide much needed safe water for the thirsty in the developing world.
While the Living Water International Team ran the marathon, another Living Water team was working to repair over 500 water sources in Haiti.
Living Water International helps communities acquire desperately needed clean water. For more information on Living Water International, please visit http://www.water.cc/.
Stewart Title Company of Illinois makes Christmas a little warmer for their furry friends.
Stewart Title Company of Illinois, the nation’s third largest underwriter in the Title Industry, in conjunction with REALTORS® to the RESCUE, organized a Towel and Blanket Drive throughout the month of December 2009.
REALTORS® to the RESCUE, is a non-for-profit 501c3 group of Chicago REALTORS®, utilizing their large association membership to help save the lives of homeless animals caused by foreclosure. (www.realtorstotherescue.com)
The drive began on December 1st and continued through the end of December generating an estimated value of over $1500.00 in all donations collected. Stewart Title Company of Illinois selected 6 of its 12 locations as collection points throughout the greater Chicagoland Area and was humbled to see a multitude of Stewart customers, friends and employees, from all over the collar counties of Illinois, drop off their new and used towel and blankets in support of the cause.
To add to the drive, Stewart Title of Illinois hosted a “Barking for Blankets” charity event at the RCEC Headquarters in Downers Grove, IL on December 17th. Top-producing customers from all over the greater Chicagoland area were invited to the event and were treated to a continental breakfast plus a one-hour presentation regarding the new HUD1/GFE regulations. The response surpassed expectations and our customers truly appreciated the opportunity to support the cause and participate in a Q&A session about the new regulation. All in all, the event shed positive light on Stewart Title. Price of admission for the event was simple: bring an old blanket or towel!
Stewart Title delivered all of the donations to several of the animal shelters in and around the Chicago land area. All donations will go toward providing the numerous existing homeless animal shelters across the City of Chicago the ability to support and enhance their organizations' outreach, missions, goals and objectives.
Stewart Title of Bozeman: Gathering The Groceries food drive.
Stewart Title of Bozeman organized a Gathering the Groceries Food Drive October 19-30, 2009. Stewartâ??s Dani DiPentino, coordinator of the inaugural event, worked with local businesses from the real estate industry to collect approximately 2,000 pounds of food for donation to the Gallatin Valley Food Bank. Daniâ??s goal was to do something that would involve the entire real estate community while simultaneously benefiting her local community.
Lori Christensen, Program Coordinator of Gallatin Valley Food Bank, said the food bank is thankful to be the recipient of the donations made to the Gathering for Groceries Food Drive. She says the food items came at a time when donations made during the summer were quickly running out and the shelves are starting to feel the pressure of the upcoming holiday season.
To learn more about the hunger relief work the Gallatin Valley Food Bank is doing in and around Bozeman visit www.gallatinvalleyfoodbank.org.
Stewart Title of Western Washington: United Way "Day of Caring"
Stewart Title associates Lonnie Knowles and Gretchen Taylor, in conjunction with other members of the Lower Columbia Professionals (a division of the Kelso Longview Chamber of Commerce), participated in the United Way's Day of Caring on September 9, 2009. Lonnie captained a team of volunteers from various organizations and they were tasked with improving the home of Margaret Burchett, an elderly, handicapped mobile home park resident, so that it would meet the requirements of her mobile home park.
In less than six hours, the group of about 20 repaired, repainted, and significantly enhanced the mobile home. Unfortunately, because they choose to do additional work on the home, the project ran slightly longer than planned and the team missed the recognition dinner held that night. Despite that disappointment Lonnie remarked, "It's nice to have a company like ours, where they know the value of helping out in the community and allow its employees to do it."
Ms. Burchett was so grateful for their assistance that she wrote to the local paper to thank the team for their help. "The job you all did is so beautiful. I thank you so very much," she writes.
For more information on the Cowlitz County United Way visit www.cowlitzunitedway.org.
More information on the Kelso Longview Chamber of Commerce and the Lower Columbia Professionals is available at www.kelsolongviewchamber.org.
Stewart Title of Alaska: Neighborworks Alaska "Paint the Town"
In June 2009, Stewart Title of Alaska and United Title Guaranty teamed up for the third year to "Paint the Town." Held annually, Paint the Town is a week-long signature event for NeighborWorks® Anchorage that took place June 5-13 during National Homeownership Month and National NeighborWorks® Week.
Community members nominate someone in need of their house being painted. Recipients must meet certain criteria, including owning their home. The primary purpose is to assist low income families and families with disabilities that cannot afford to "spruce up" their home.
Stewart Title associate Samantha Buchite described the experience: "We've had so much fun that this was the third year we have done it. We have an overwhelming response from our associates that want to volunteer that this year we were able to paint the whole house in just one day. Everyone worked so hard, and talk about teamwork!"
NeighborWorks® Anchorage assists those searching for affordable housing by providing safe, stable and affordable rental housing options, mortgage loan down payment assistance programs, pre-purchase home counseling, and financial literacy. Learn more about the organization by visiting www.akanhs.org.
