Community Service Recognition
Big Country Apartment Association
Project: Walk With Pride
In 2007, the Big Country Apartment Association (BCAA) teamed with the Abilene Board of Realtors and the Salvation Army for the Walk With Pride Shoe Drive for school-aged children.
Tammy Kister, president of BCAA and a board member with the Abilene Board of Realtors, and Association Executive Mitzi Moore spearheaded BCAA’s involvement. Kister brought the program to the attention of BCAA’s members and prepared donation forms while Moore prepared fliers and made email announcements to members to promote the program. In addition, Moore decorated donation shoe boxes for each table at BCAA’s monthly General Membership Meetings. Property members sent fliers to their residents and their residents rose to the occasion.
BCAA raised $1,000 for the Walk With Pride Shoe Drive, providing 62 pairs of shoes to needy children!
Project: School Supply Drive
BCAA has held school supply drives since 2005. The school supply drive was created to provide less fortunate children the tools to become educated, not letting a pencil, pen or paper keep them from learning.
The 2007 drive started in July and concluded September 25, 2007. The association sent email notices regarding the drive and distributed fliers at their membership meetings.
The 2007 drive resulted in a donation of more than $3,000 in school supplies to the Woodson School of Excellence and the Houston Student Achievement Center.
Project: Blood Drive
On June 19, 2007, the BCAA held its first blood drive. During the association’s June General Membership luncheon, the Meek Blood Center parked its mobile blood center at the luncheon location and gave pints of Blue Bell ice cream to everyone that donated. Members joined together to donate 27 pints of blood!
BCAA hopes to make the blood drive an annual event.
Project: March of Dimes Walk America
With the help of BCAA members, Tammy Kister raised $1,450 for the 2007 March of Dimes Walk America campaign. Kister took second place in the Top 5 Highest Raising Veteran Walker category.
Houston Apartment Association
Project: Operation Save a Life In November 2007, the Houston Apartment Association (HAA) proudly teamed with KTRK-ABC13, Kidde, the Texas Lottery, Chevy and the Houston Fire Department to promote the Operation Save a Life program. Operation Save a Life promotes fire safety in single family and apartment homes. HAA’s focus was on getting information about the program out via the Intenet and television commercials and by distributing several thousand magnets with fire safety information to HAA member properties. HAA hopes its efforts will prevent fires and decrease loss of life and property. Apartment Association of the Panhandle Project: Bake sale and gift baskets for the Amarillo Veterans Hospital The Apartment Association of the Panhandle (AAP) held a bake sale in July to raise money for gift baskets the association delivered to hospitalized veterans in Amarillo. AAP members baked cookies and cakes and collected donations of baked goods from the local United Supermarkets and Albertson’s Bakeries. Stewart Title Company Amarillo and the association’s local product-service council members donated a number of items for the gift baskets, which each included a coffee mug, a deck of cards, a roll of quarters, chocolates, pens and more. AAP’s community service committee delivered the baskets to patients at the Amarillo Veterans Hospital, and a representative from the Amarillo Globe News took photos. The committee then donated money left over after the baskets were distributed to the VA Nursing Home. Committee members reported that patients were extremely gratified by the gifts. The project was the idea of AAP President Donna Burch, who has had family members hospitalized at the Veterans Hospital in the past. Oftentimes, patients go to the hospital for a doctor’s visit and are immediately hospitalized without items they need from home, so the gift baskets helped provide some much-appreciated supplies! Houston Apartment Association Project: Water Wise program In an effort to promote water safety and save lives, the Houston Apartment Association (HAA) partnered with Texas Children’s Hospital, the YMCA and Clear Channel Outdoor this spring to launch the Water Wise water safety campaign. The campaign spread the message of water safety through speaker presentations, safety and rescue training, swim safety literature, and media articles and coverage. HAA hosted the kickoff of the program at the Luxor Park Apartments, unveiling public education billboards during a joint press conference. HAA President-elect John Ridgway spoke on behalf of HAA, with HAA President Suan Tinsley and board member Margaret Balderaz answering questions in English and Spanish. The campaign received strong media support, and the Water Wise speaker’s bureau conducted more than 17 presentations, in both English and Spanish, at schools, service clubs and apartment communities, reaching more than 3,612 concerned parents and adults. Tinsley spoke to local media about HAA’s participation in the program and the association’s commitment to reminding parents about the importance of watching their children around bodies of water.
San Antonio Apartment Association
Project: Annual Toy Drive
The Community Relations Committee of SAAA has grown to 44 members strong in the past few years. It continues to be the largest committee of SAAA. Its members are long-term passionate individuals ready to give back to the community and make a difference!
For more than 10 years SAAA has been a supporter of San Antonio Police Department's Operation Blue Santa. The Blue Santa Program was created to provide families in need with assistance in providing their children with Christmas gifts that they would otherwise not get. Families who are indigent/low-income, but not restricted to those families on welfare, can apply for this program. According to SAPD Officer Gordon Keogh, SAAA was the largest contributor of toys in 2006.
Each year committee members distribute collection boxes to SAAA member properties desiring to get their residents involved in the toy drive. It is an avenue through which onsite personnel are able to team up with their residents and make dreams come true for the children of San Antonio! The Annual Holiday Gala is where you will witness not only the results of the collection boxes at the onsite level, but every participant arriving at the Gala arrives bearing Christmas Gifts for the cause! An estimated $10,000 in toys was on display and delivered to SAPD that evening.
The Lynd Company joined our efforts for the first time during the latter two weeks of the drive. The team at the San Antonio Lynd Corporate Office joined with more than 30 of their apartment communities to donate toys to Blue Santa. Residents contributed along with The Lynd Company staff and a unique Blue Santa move-in special was created so new residents could participate as well! Thanks to their outstanding efforts, an additional estimate of $3,500 in toys was contributed to SAPD.
For more photos click here.
Wal-Mart, Supercenter awards $1,000 Community Grant to SAAA:
Cindy Diaz, Personnel Manager/Community Involvement Coordinator
Wal-Mart, Supercenter #2599; San Antonio, TX
For the past five years, SAAA has held an Annual Donation Drive in conjunction with our Bowling Tournament to support The Battered Women & Children's Shelter (BWS) in San Antonio. In 2006 the Community Relations Committee agreed to take it further... a BWS Kid's Sub-Committee was formed to plan, implement and oversee kid's activities at the Battered Women & Children's Shelter (BWS). The kid's activities are planned in the evenings during a time when mothers are in individual counseling sessions. It is a time for the children to interact with groups and individuals, other than facility staff. SAAA volunteers assisted with hosting five kid's activities in 2006 at the facility. Because of these efforts, Wal-Mart awarded a $1,000 "Community Grant" to the committee in December of 2006.
The BWS Shelter is supported by different organizations and individuals throughout the year; however, during the holidays, the gifts for the teenagers in particular are not sufficient. With these funds, the committee purchased $1,000 in Christmas gifts for the teenagers then housed at the shelter.
The association raised a total of $14,500
Houston Apartment Association
Project: Increasing Awareness of Career Opportunities
In an effort to increase awareness of career opportunities in the apartment industry in the Houston area, while further expanding the talent pool of potential employees, the Houston Apartment Association (HAA) approached the Houston Community College (HCC) about developing a vocational curriculum. The intent of the curriculum is to prepare students for entry-level positions in the residential property management field.
Several HAA members provided their expertise to help build subject matter and curriculum and act as advisors to HCC. HAA’s Director of Education Emily Hilton served as a liaison between HCC and HAA, providing HCC with many resources within the apartment industry’s professional community.
After several months of low registrations required for holding the class, HAA stepped in to further serve the community by offering more than $5,000 in scholarships, and in developing scholarship criteria and an application process. After a submission and evaluation process, HAA awarded six full scholarships for the program to individuals within the community who were not currently employed in the industry.
In the summer of 2006, approximately 20 students enrolled in the first Residential Property Management certificate program at HCC. HAA member companies and volunteers continue to participate in the program in the way of special guest speakers, and offering internships. As the program grows in popularity and momentum, the potential for further participation from within the community will increase as additional courses are offered.
HAA awards $5,000 in scholarships
Austin Apartment Association
Project: Operation K.I.S.S.
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In June 2006, the Austin Apartment Association (AAA) Community Service Committee kicked off Operation Kids In need of School Supplies (K.I.S.S.). The drive ended on August 17 at the association’s “Disco Bowl” tournament. Committee members created camouflage-themed collection boxes and staged a kissing booth at the association’s two summer events. Through these efforts, the committee collected more than $1,000 in cash and oodles of school supplies from 29 communities and businesses. Most of the supplies collected were donated to Project Help—Homeless Education and Learning Program, and the rest were donated directly to SafePlace charter school. SafePlace is a shelter for survivors of domestic violence. More supplies were collected by additional residential communities, and were then distributed to needy children that reside on those properties. |
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Big Country Apartment Association
School Supply Drive:
Big Country Apartment Association has risen to the occasion to help Abilene and Cooper High schools. Students and teachers are using the hundreds of supplies worth more than $2,000 contributed by Association. The supplies were divided and picked up by counselors from the two respective schools. Other supplies not used by the high schools were delivered to Reassignment Centers and Houston SAC.
BCAA appreciates Diane Black for her initiative on this project.
Non-perishable Food Drive:
For the past three years, the Big Country Apartment Association has hosted an annual food drive to benefit the Food Bank of West Central Texas. The food bank serves 150 agencies over a 13 Texas county spread. This year the BCAA, with the combined efforts of its membership, collected enough non-perishable food to prepare 409 meals for the citizens in their county. The drive ran from January 6 through February 20, 2007.
The initiative was started by Dean Taggart three years ago. This year Taggart and Kathy DeLaCruz developed flyers and email announcements to all members to promote the cause. In addition, DeLaCruz, assistant manager of Willow Crest Apartments, along with Property Manager Diana Black; Lead Maintenance Tech Gustabo Sanchez; and Assistant Maintenance Tech Jaime Soto, walked their property on the eve of the deadline. This allowed residents of their community who were too busy to drop donations off to the office to participate in the cause.
Lubbock Apartment Association
2006 Share the Warmth
The Lubbock Apartment Association kicked off the 2006 “Share the Warmth” Coat Drive September 16, 2006, with a goal to collect items of warmth and distribute clean and wearable items to children and adults in need. Items included scarves, sweater, gloves, hats and coats. The Association and its community partners collected and distributed more than 4,000 coats and items of warmth to men, women and children in the Lubbock area.
Children and art classes from six local elementary schools also contributed to the Drive by putting their creative skills to work. Each class contributed their drawings and imagination to create decorated coat collection boxes for the drive.
The Share the Warmth Coat Drive was launched in 2000 by a local apartment management company. It quickly grew and as more of the Lubbock community requested participation, the Lubbock Apartment Association became the official sponsor in 2005.