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Right Michael Kal (left), president of Cornerstone Property Appraisals and Consulting and Jason Smith, President and CEO of Solidifi.
Appraisers solidify charitable giving After watching his son recover from meningitis, Solidifi president/CEO Jason Smith turned to the company’s network of appraisers hoping they’d help other children do the same. They have
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Charity may not always begin at home, but in Jason Smith’s case, it did find impetus there. In February, the president and CEO of appraisal management firm Solidifi initiated Buck At A Time because of a medical emergency on his own homefront. The charity focuses on children’s rehabilitation, providing support funding for both hospital programs and research. “When you nearly lose your six-year-old, you think of what you can do to make things better for other families going through the same thing,” Smith tells CMP. In 2007, his six-year-old son, Alexander, battled bacterial meningitis. The insidious infection can start with a stiff neck and a mild fever before rapidly progressing to seizures, coma, brain damage and, all too often, death. With the help of Toronto’s Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Alexander won that battle. Four years later, he’s like any other nine-yearold, says Smith: “He’s running, skiing – doing everything a normal Grade 4 does. Solidifi and a growing number of its appraiserpartners are now committed to getting other Canadian kids back on their feet. Through the program, members of the firm’s appraiser network have begun donating $1 from each appraisal fee to Buck At A Time. The more than $4,000 raised in the first month is earmarked for child rehabilitation hospitals across the country, with 10 per cent of that money directed at research now underway at the Toronto facility that took care of Alexander. Each year, Solidifi will match those funds and expects to raise $50,000 by the end of the year. “The support we receive from Solidifi’s appraiser community will ensure children and their families have access to the best research in childhood disability,” says Valerie McMurtry, president
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Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation. “We look forward to a long and meaningful partnership with Solidifi.” More than 200 appraisers in the network have already made long-term pledges of support, with their donations going to child rehabilitation facilities in their respective communities. The number “heroes” is growing. “Our appraiser-partners are signing up without us doing any marketing of the charity,” says Smith. “The initiative has just sort of gone viral and has just grown.” Michael Kal, president of Cornerstone Property Appraisals and Consulting, was one of the first in the Solidifi network to enrol in the program. “I’m proud to be associated with Buck At A Time,” he says. “On behalf of all appraisers in Ontario, I truly appreciate the opportunity to make a difference in the community.” The collective cause has had other benefits. “Even the notion for an appraiser having a great relationship with an appraisal management system is kind of unheard of in North America,” concedes Smith. “But this program has helped us to connect not only with the community but with each other. It has reinforced the idea of a partnership.” In very tangible terms, the effort is expected to provide the kind of mobility devices, therapy, respite care and home improvements that families need when grappling with a child’s catastrophic or debilitating illness. In sending a portion of donations into Holland Bloorview’s research around childhood disability, Buck At A Time also aims to positively impact the lives of children with disabilities across the globe. “You hear about a car crash somewhere and that a child survived,” says Smith, “but there are so many challenges after that as they get back into the community. We can help them return.” CMP