Making a Difference by Working Together

Michele De Fehr

“Home is the starting place of love, hope, and dreams.” Unknown

But for many less fortunate living in our communities, those words are lost.

As REALTORS®, we spend our days (and often nights) helping clients purchase and sell properties that create warmth, security, safety, and happiness, from first-time homeowners to emptynesters and everyone in between.

But there is another world . . . homelessness . . . a world that can come from any family status. It can start from the loss of a job or marriage, depression, mental issues, or alcohol or drug addiction.

Without a home, necessities like warm winter clothing, blankets and sleeping bags are not accessible.

In 1994, REALTORS® Don MacKay, Dick Coates, Frank Hannig, and Stephen Crawford were on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver when they saw a need. They knew they could help those living outside in the cold and rain by rallying colleagues to collect blankets for the homeless. And thus began the REALTORS Care® Blanket Drive, now the largest, longest-running blanket drive in the region. Last year was our 24th year.

Each year, REALTOR® volunteers gather and distribute donations to charities from Squamish to Hope. Over the years, more than 345,975 people in need throughout the Lower Mainland have been given blankets and warm clothing. More than 100 real estate offices act as drop-off locations for donations.

Over the years, more than 345,975 people in need throughout the Lower Mainland have been given blankets and warm clothing

I was a REALTOR® for only 6 months when my receptionist asked if I wanted to coordinate something called the REALTORS Care® Blanket Drive and I agreed. Now going into my 12th year as coordinator for North Shore real estate offices, I look back and am proud of how it has grown . . . not just the number of donations of warm winter clothing, new socks and underwear, coats, hats, blankets, and sleeping bags but in the awareness that has spread about the Blanket Drive and the people it helps.

Throughout the years, I have tried to think of ways to expand the awareness and support to create more donations. On the North Shore, we set up drop-off locations during the week-long Blanket Drive. We have wonderful REALTORS® who volunteer their time in Capilano Mall, Lynn Valley Centre, and Park Royal Mall collecting donations and giving information to the residents of our neighbourhoods. It is a fantastic way to give back to our communities and show we care— and it feels great!

We also have a pizza “sorting party,” started as a way to get other REALTORS® from my office to help empty bags and sort them into the various categories ready for delivery. The pizza is now sponsored by Gibbard Group Financial and we have door prizes, as well. Many different North Shore real estate offices participate, as well as their family members.

Michele De Fehr with Lorne MacInnes at sorting party

Loading bags for delivery at Ferguson Moving and Storage

Sorted bags ready to be loaded to truck

Every area of the Lower Mainland chooses different recipient organizations. On the North Shore, we donate to the Harvest Project and the Lookout Society, then we go to Covenant House, RainCity Housing, Yukon Housing, and the Vancouver Police Department (blankets and sleeping bags for the Downtown Eastside). The sorting party has grown so much, we now hold it at Ferguson Moving and Storage owned by Lorne and Celeste MacInnes, who also help in the delivery of the donations and have done so for many years. They have been a huge help!

A lot of REALTORS® look forward to this event as it is such a great cause. Delivering the donations to the shelters is an eye-opening and emotional experience. It is amazing what one bag of clothing and blankets can do for someone. Most people don’t realize how much of a difference the donations can make and the impact they create for the recipients’ feeling of security and the knowledge that someone cares. They are truly happy and grateful.

REALTORS® have different organizations that we hold dear as a result of being affected by some event within our family-and-friends circles. The charities to which we tend to donate usually come from those experiences. We do care about people . . . we are in a people business and it is only right that we give where we can. In our recent record-breaking year, we collected enough donations on the North Shore to help more than 5000 people in need.

The REALTORS Care® Blanket Drive is more than a blanket and clothing drive; it is a time of year when we reach out to our communities and invest time (and the effort of cleaning out our closets!) while giving the gift of hope and creating some warmth for those less fortunate. We can only hope that doing this every year helps people have faith that things can get better.

For further information please visit www.blanketdrive.ca. Greater Vancouver REALTORS® have initiated successful programs such as REALTORS Care®, the REALTORS Care® Blanket Drive, and the REALTORS Care® Shelter Drive. Some of those programs have been adopted by other Real Estate Boards in BC and across the country. Michele De Fehr is a REALTOR® with Sotheby’s International Realty Canada.

Michele De Fehr and Tazmeen Woodall at Park Royal drop-off Office Coordinators Johanna Osato, Sarah Dennis, Donald Watson, Elizabeth Dyer, Shelley Williams, and Jennie Frizzo with North Shore Coordinator Michele De Fehr

Photo courtesy of North Shore News