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.

   

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.

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