
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 5, 1990                   TAG: 9005080220
SECTION: AMERICAN HOME WEEK                    PAGE: AH8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Betsy Biesenbach
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

REALTORS GIVE TIME AND EFFORT TO HELP OTHERS

Ever met a REALTOR who wasn't a "people person?" A big part of the job is gaining the trust and respect of others, and of course, being a REALTOR means helping people with what usually turns out to be one of the biggest events in their lives.

This interest in people doesn't end with selling houses. Both the state and local REALTORS associations are active in projects that benefit other people.

The Roanoke Valley REALTORS Association's biggest fund raiser is an annual golf tournament to benefit Habitat for Humanity, said association member Bill Gearhart. Habitat for Humanity is a private, non-profit organization that helps the working poor build and purchase good, affordable homes. Last year, the tournament, which is called "Eighteen Holes for Habitat" brought in $15,000.

This year, it was held on April 16, in conjunction with an auction. Preliminary estimates set the total amount of money raised by the two events at $18,000 to $20,000. The guest of honor, professional golfer Calvin Peete, gave a golf clinic before the tournament, which started at 1 p.m. The 124 golfers who signed up paid a $100 fee. In addition, each hole and each tee was sponsored by a local business for $175 apiece. The sponsor's name was displayed near the hole or tee, and all 36 were taken, Gearhart said. The tournament also had three major underwriters, he added. They were the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Roanoke Inc., Norfolk Southern Corp. and Crestar.

The auction and cocktail party were held later that evening. Some of the items up for auction included a six-day vacation in the Virgin Islands, fur coats, a trip aboard a cruise ship, a grandfather clock and an oriental rug and two wills, to be prepared by a lawyer.

Gearhart said he would like to see the tournament grow in the next few years. "We want to try to build it up to a well-known tournament," he said, with an eventual goal of 144 players and $50,-000 to $60,000 in donations. "We want it to be a full fund-raising drive."

Members of the REALTORS association organize events such as this, Gearhart said, because they want to help others. "Personally, I just feel that when you work in a community, you have to do something for the community."

Habitat for Humanity, he said, is the perfect cause to support because it enables people who might otherwise never be able to purchase their own home to do so. And the idea of private home ownership is one the REALTORS association promotes heavily.

"It's an excellent program for us," he said.

The annual March of Dimes Walk America walk-a-thon is an event that REALTORS associations statewide devote time to. This is the second year the Roanoke Valley REALTORS association has been involved.

Sharon Harwood, who is organizing the REALTORS' participation in the event this year, said that last year, 68 walkers brought in $3,910 for the organization, which provides funds to help children with birth defects.

The REALTORS Association also won a first place plaque for raising more money than any other group sponsored by an organization.

Figures for this year's walk, which took place on April 29, were not available, but before the walk, Harwood said she was expecting "a bigger turnout" than last year with over 100 people participating.

Walking with the REALTORS this year were friends, spouses and the group's affiliates: the lawyers, appraisers and other non-REALTORS who belong to the association. Also among them was a pack of Cub Scouts. About 25 boys from Pack 236, which is sponsored by the Windsor Hills Methodist Church, accompanied the REALTORS, dressed in maroon or white T-shirts with their firms' logos printed on the back, as they walked the nine-mile course

Like Gearhart, Harwood thinks the REALTORS need to participate in activities such as this. "We're trying to put a little bit back into the community," she said.

Besides helping a good cause, Harwood said, the walk is "a lot of fun."

The REALTORS Association has participated in other projects, too. Last year it sponsored a concert at the Salem Civic Center to benefit the City Rescue Mission.

Every Christmas the association members give over 2,000 stockings stuffed with gifts to the Salvation Army, which distributes them to needy children. Each REALTOR is asked to fill two stockings. Last year it took five or six carloads to bring them all in, Gearhart said,

by CNB