Royal LePage agents and brokers have raised more than $125,000 for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund.
When foundation supporters learned that the severity of domestic violence was increasing, that many shelters needed to rent additional space to meet social distancing guidelines, and that children staying in shelters needed supplies and support to keep up with their classmates, they jumped into action, the company says.
Shawn Zigelstein of Royal LePage Your Community Realty organized a “Porch Pics” fundraiser with a local photographer, who used a telephoto lens to take photos of families quarantining together.
Online fundraising challenges, “virtual” events and social media campaigns have taken place across Canada, with Royal LePage professionals hosting and performing live concerts; cutting their own hair and shaving their beards; organizing online game nights and fitness classes; selling gifts, small luxuries and masks; and partnering with local businesses to provide unique offerings – all in exchange for donations to the cause.
Numerous collections were also taken up by Royal LePage brokerages and agents, with some promoting matching gift opportunities to their clients, which doubled the impact of their generosity.
When Royal LePage’s National Garage Sale for Shelter was unable to proceed for the first time in 12 years, agents and brokers made modest “garage sale sized” donations to help replace this lost revenue. In addition, they organized donations of essential supplies to their local women’s shelters, including toilet paper, hand sanitizer and cloth masks.
“When the COVID-19 pandemic began, it was heart-warming to hear from so many of our supporters asking what they could do for their local women’s shelters,” says foundation executive director Shanan Spencer-Brown.
Royal LePage Estate Realty raised over $17,000 for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation during an “Unplugged for Shelter” concert featuring Rik Emmett, Motown and Marley’s Marcia Alderson, Joanna Swan, Else Langhans, Liam Dunlop and Dave Dunlop.
Agents at Johnston & Daniel, a division of Royal LePage Real Estate Services, have raised $17,500 for the foundation through a “J&D Safe at Home” social media campaign.
