Members of the real estate community, including Northeast Florida Association of Realtors (NEFAR), are doing their part to assist others when disaster strikes.
Over the past two decades, the Realtors Relief Foundation (RRF) has had a major role in helping victims of hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes and wildfires keep a roof over their heads in the wake of catastrophe.
This year, in honor of the foundation’s 20th anniversary, NEFAR has donated $250,000 to the Realtors Relief Fund’s campaign to ensure the fund will have a sustainable reserve and be ready to provide housing-related assistance at a moment’s notice.
“Realtors understand the strength of community, and they realize the enormous benefit of people being able to quickly repair or rebuild what they have lost,” said Cathy Whatley, a NEFAR member who served as first vice president of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in 2001 when RRF was founded.
She stressed the importance of having funds on hand so financial assistance can immediately be sent to individuals in areas hit hard by a disaster.
“This generous contribution by the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors will help ensure the Realtors Relief Foundation can continue to be positioned to quickly respond should a disaster strike,” she said. “While we hope that our First Coast area is spared from needing assistance, RRF will be there to help us if a disaster should occur.”
Established in September 2001, the day after Sept. 11, RRF was created as a Realtors-driven response to the terrorist attacks in New York City. Since its inception, the fund has distributed more than $33 million to more than 17,000 families in calamity-afflicted communities.
The goal of the Realtors Relief Foundation is to never say “no” to those in need during a time of disaster, said Whatley. In receiving a grant from RRF, disaster victims are not bogged down by bureaucracy or paperwork. Since the National Association of Realtors covers all administrative costs, 100 percent of donations to the fund go directly to disaster-impacted families.
In recent years, RRF money has assisted wildfire victims in Washington state, flood casualties in North Dakota and those who suffered the impact of hurricanes Sandy, Irene, Lee and Michael, as well as tornados in Alabama and Missouri. Members of the national, state and local Realtor associations have aided community members in 39 states and U.S. territories through more than 80 natural disasters.
