John Melo, CEO of Century 21 M & M Real Estate says, “You know why I love the holiday season? Because everyone slows down a bit and people are nice to each other.” That was back in October 2009 before the Coats for Kids Campaign.
The Coats for Kids campaign seemed to bring out the best in Century 21 M & M real estate agents and staff members. With a competitive spirit and a lot of enthusiasm we went out into our communities and spread the word about the great need for coats this year. As the weather got colder and the rain started pouring down, all of us were even more aware of how great the need is this year and pushed harder still.
It is now December 18, 2009, the last day of the Coats for Kids Campaign and it is really time to slow down. On Wednesday the official count of coats for kids was at 3800. And the coats were still coming in…
Dana Howell in the Los Banos office took the Coats for Kids Campaign to the streets (literally), marching in the Christmas parade pulling carts full of coats through downtown Los Banos.
Dana says, “What really pulled the heart strings was watching four children take off their personal coats and drop them into the carts—then run off without waiting for recognition or reward.”
All of our managers noted that at least half of the donors were not interested in the chance to win the $1000.00 drawing. Most said that if they won the drawing they would just donate money back to Coats for Kids.
As of Wednesday, Marya Pimentel in the Modesto office noted a coat count of 614 with at least 160 coats coming from Ricardo Jimenez’ daughter Mikaela’s sixth grade class hoping to win the $1000.00 drawing in order for the class to take a field trip.
According to Leslie Noll in the Clovis office, over 500 coats were donated by children from local schools. Of course it didn’t hurt that the Clovis office got front page press from the local newspaper.
Jerilyn Von Flue, manager of the Madera office says; “the agents really had fun with it…one of our agents sold tamales and used the money to buy coats for donating. All of our agents really took an active participation in it. Thanks for thinking of this and sponsoring Coats for Kids. I know next year we will even do a larger number.”
Two offices; Fairfield and Vacaville hosted Wine and Cheese events in their offices and collected a significant number of coats at each location.
Lauralee Ensign, COO, says that the most heartwarming story she heard was from a colleague, an agent from a competitor’s office, who thanked Century 21 M & M Real Estate for participating in the Coats for Kids campaign. This particular agent stated that at one time she had been the recipient of a coat and this cause was close to her heart.
Century 21 M & M Real Estate is grateful for the support, not only from our communities, but also from the media; newspapers, radio stations and News 10, in helping to make this effort a success, far exceeding our expectations.
John Melo and Larry Matos say Thank You, and wish you and your families a Very Merry Christmas!
Northern CA Real Estate 