Good Neighbor Awards Finalists Uplift Lives of Others CHICAGO (August 14, 2006) – Real estate professionals in every corner of the nation dedicate countless volunteer hours to make a dramatic difference in their community. Ten of these selfless people have been named finalists for the 2006 Good Neighbor Awards by the National Association of Realtors®. REALTOR® Magazine’s Good Neighbor Awards, in its seventh year, recognizes Realtors® who are shining examples of the power of one person to improve the quality of life for others. There were more than 300 entries—an all-time high. Five winners will be selected from among these 10 finalists and will receive travel expenses to the REALTORS® Conference & Expo in New Orleans in November, national media exposure for their community cause, and a $10,000 grant for their cause (the highest ever; up from $7,500 in 2005). In addition to the winners, five honorable mentions will each receive a $2,500 grant (up from $1,500). The winners will be announced in November in REALTOR® Magazine, the official publication of the National Association of Realtors®. NAR President Thomas M. Stevens said the Good Neighbor Awards brings attention to volunteer work that Realtors® all over the country are quietly doing to help others. “These people typically don’t seek the spotlight—but they deserve to be recognized. I’m proud that the Good Neighbor Awards gives NAR the opportunity to honor some of the many Realtors® who help strengthen their communities through volunteer work.” The following 10 Realtors® were named finalists in the Good Neighbor program: Ernest “Chuck” Ayala, GRI, Ayala Real Estate, San Francisco Thirty-three years ago, Ayala founded Centro Latino de San Francisco, a community center that supports more than 2,000 low-income seniors with meals, transportation, bilingual assistance and health assessments. Ayala, Centro Latino’s CEO and president, also was a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging and serves on the California Commission on Aging, for which he coordinated hearings on disaster preparedness for people living in long-term care facilities. Jack Conway, GRI, CRB, Jack Conway & Co., Norwell, Mass. In 1981, Conway helped found the MainSpring Coalition for the Homeless, which provides emergency shelter, support services and advocacy to homeless families and single adults. Conway and his company sponsor annual golf tournaments and auctions that have raised more than $1 million. His support has enabled the organization to expand to five locations that house 100 individuals and 80 families each night, totaling 1,500 people a year. Rob Cronin, Coldwell Banker, Conklin & Co., Hailey, Idaho Cronin is the driving force at the American Cancer Society’s Camp Rainbow Gold, an overnight summer camp equipped with a medical team and social worker that gives children who have been diagnosed with cancer a fun-filled camp experience at no cost to their families. Cronin, a cancer survivor himself, has filled every role: board member, fundraiser, counselor, activities director and camp director. He has raised $1.4 million in two years, which will be used for a new scholarship program to send former campers to college and to help the camp buy its own land and facilities. Sharon Friend, CRS® , Las Vegas Realty, Las Vegas Friend is president of The Children’s Service Guild, which helps children touched by the family court system obtain medical and dental care, clothes, toys, bedding and other essential needs not covered by government funding. The Guild is a private nonprofit group that supports 30 departments within the county’s family services and juvenile justice system. The main beneficiary is Child Haven, a temporary residence that houses 5,000 children a year. Friend volunteers an average of 35 hours a week and is credited with maintaining the Guild’s financial stability in one of the fastest growing areas in the country and raising enough money for Child Haven to build a new residential facility last year. Lolita Junk, Diversified Real Estate Services/GMAC, Galesburg, Ill. In 1995, Junk founded the Knox County Teen Court, which has helped more than 1,500 juvenile nonviolent first-time offenders get a second chance for a clean record while holding them accountable for their actions. The program, which uses volunteer high school students as attorneys and jurors, gives “sentences” such as anger management classes, drug or alcohol counseling, apologies, theft seminars and community service. It boasts a recidivism rate of well under 10 percent, compared with 65 to 75 percent for youth handled in the traditional courts. Junk created the first teen court in Illinois, which now has more than 130 programs and has become a model for teen courts nationally and throughout the world. Lovie McGee, Love Realty, Albuquerque, N.M. In 1985, McGee founded the African American Cultural Association, which promotes educational and cultural awareness to children from very low socio-economic backgrounds. Through the use of tutors and mentors, 113 children are given academic help, guidance and health care education. They are given clothes and school supplies and opportunities to express themselves through music. In addition, McGee has been a powerful advocate of equal rights, serving on the Housing Committee of the NAACP and the Albuquerque Human Rights Board. Jill Rich, ABR®, CRS®, GRI, Realty Executives Southern Arizona, Tucson, Ariz. Rich is the heart and soul of The Sudanese Promise Fund, which helps refugees who have resettled in Tucson adapt to the United States, overcome their traumatic past and become productive citizens. Known in the media as the Lost Boys of the Sudan, they survived the horrors of civil war and genocide. After many of their parents were killed, sometimes in front of them, they fled more than a thousand miles on foot, only to have two-thirds die from starvation, disease and animal attacks. Rich, who is president of the organization, acts as a surrogate mother to 54 young men, helping them find apartments, get into and pay for college, pay for much-needed medical care and provide the advice and guidance any young person needs to find his way in life. Rich also has the unique honor of being a previous winner of the Good Neighbor Award for totally unrelated volunteer work with the American Red Cross. Singletary “Tary” H. Snyder, Texas Lone Star Realty, Dripping Springs, Texas Snyder has led disaster relief efforts throughout Texas and the South. Since 1998, he has been disaster response coordinator of Mission Presbytery, for which he has led more than 30 mission trips involving 575 volunteers to help people affected by storms and floods. After 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, he led efforts to evacuate more than 5,500 people to Austin and created the Texas Interfaith Disaster Response organization to attend to their needs. He also helped plan and host a statewide hurricane-disaster recovery conference that involved the Red Cross, FEMA and many faith-based organizations. David Sonenberg, The Sonenberg Co., Roswell, Ga. For 23 years, Sonenberg has been president of North Fulton Community Charities, an organization he helped found, that assists families, individuals and the elderly by fulfilling emergency needs for food, clothing, rent, utilities, medicine and other basic needs. His leadership and fundraising enabled the NFCC to purchase and renovate its own building last year. In 2005, NFCC helped more than 4,200 families (more than 11,000 people), including 375 Katrina evacuee families. NFCC operates a food pantry that serves an average of 85 families a day. Williemae Stanberry, GRI, Stanberry Realty, Pensacola, Fla. In 2002, Stanberry founded A Will & Way Inc., which counsels women in prison to help them break free of the curses of poverty, domestic violence and substance abuse. As the wife of a jail chaplain, Stanberry has special insight into how to help these women reclaim their lives and reunite with their children. Stanberry runs weekly counseling sessions, opened a transitional home for women being released from prison, and provides assistance with education, medical care, employment and permanent housing as the women start their new lives. “The finalists for REALTOR® Magazine’s 2006 Good Neighbor Awards have made tremendous contributions to their communities,” said NAR Vice President of Publications Pamela Geurds Kabati, who is REALTOR® Magazine’sEditorial Director. “Their stories move and deeply inspire all of us. All of the more than 300 nominees—and particularly our ten finalists—exemplify the spirit of community service that is typical of Realtors®. We’re proud that the Good Neighbor Awards help shine a spotlight on the positive difference Realtors® make in the world.” REALTOR® Magazine’s Good Neighbor Awards is sponsored by eNeighborhoods Inc.—which has supported the program since its inception—Fannie Mae and LandAmerica. A contribution also was made by Phil McGinnis, CCIM, McGinnis Commercial Real Estate, Dover, Del. “The Good Neighbor Awards showcases the truly amazing things that Realtors® are doing to make an impact on the world, neighborhood by neighborhood,” says Stu Siegel, CEO of eNeighborhoods and founding sponsor of the Awards. “What I find most interesting is how the recipients unanimously cite community service as integral to their success in real estate, despite the enormous amount of time they devote to their causes. Imagine the impact in every community if all 1.3 million members of NAR got more active in community service,” adds Siegel, who personally funds most of the Good Neighbor grants through his family charitable foundation. Nominees were judged on their personal contribution of time, as well as financial and material contributions, to benefit their cause. To be eligible, nominees had to be members in good standing of NAR. More information about the Good Neighbor Awards finalists is available at www.realtor.org/realtormag. eNeighborhoods Inc., (www.eneighborhoods.com) of Boca Raton, Fla., a REALTOR Benefits partner, is “The Neighborhood Info Experts.” As the industry’s premier compiler of home and neighborhood information, eNeighborhoods provides real estate professionals with a comprehensive set of marketing tools they use everyday to present buyers and sellers with the most up-to-date information about listings, neighborhoods and schools. Fannie Mae (www.fanniemae.com) is a private, shareholder-owned company based in Washington, D.C., that provides financial products and services that make it possible for low-, moderate-, and middle-income families to buy homes. Since 1968, Fannie Mae has helped more than 63 million families achieve homeownership. LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., (www.landam.com) based in Richmond, Va., is a leading provider of real estate transaction services. Through its many subsidiaries, LandAmerica serves residential and commercial customers with more than 900 offices and a network of 10,000 active agents throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Europe. LandAmerica is recognized on Fortune magazine’s 2006 list of America’s most admired companies and is ranked as a Fortune 500 and Forbes Platinum 400 company. REALTOR Magazine is the award-winning magazine of the National Association of Realtors, Chicago. The National Association of Realtors® , “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing more than 1.3 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.