The First Weber Foundation's collection for UNICEF's work in Ukraine is like the Energizer Bunny slogan... it just keeps going and going and going! The successful fundraiser extended it's original end date of March 22 to March 25, and the checks keep coming! The Paypal link for online donations has been disabled and Foundation Director Nancy K Smith considers it "a good problem to have."
"Agents and staff shared the Paypal link on social media sites for a couple of weeks, which really made a difference for us. As of today, we have $31,583.06 set aside for UNICEF and we know of a couple more checks we are waiting on. We hope to mail off our donation by April 8 at the latest," said Smith.
The Foundation started the fundraiser as concerned agents and staff looked to it for guidance and leadership. "Home and family is central to what we do: We list and sell homes, we deal with family and homes on a constant basis, we know how important 'home' is to everybody. This hit our people hard," added Smith. The Foundation Board chose UNICEF based on a statement issued by the National Association of REALTORS and originally offered a $5,000 match for donations raised by agents and staff. As the donations rose, the Foundation Board voted on March 23 to increase the match to $10,000, and a week later, as donations neared $15,000, the match was raised by the Board for a third time, to $15,000.
The Foundation hopes to meet or exceed a contribution of $32,000 when the final check is written.
The First Weber Foundation is the charitable arm of First Weber Inc. The Foundation was incorporated in 2006 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to expand First Weber's commitment to strengthen our communities through charitable contributions and volunteer leadership. Since it's inception, the Foundation has contributed more than $3.5 million to more than 975 non-profit organizations.
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