Friday, Sept. 23, 2005

 

GAR donates $50,000 for Katrina victims

In the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina across the Gulf Coast, the Georgia Association of Realtors has donated $50,000 to a disaster relief fund set up by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Money collected will aid Realtors and their families who were hardest hit. 

"Our fellow Realtors have lost both their homes and their livelihoods," said GAR President Jan Baker. "This gives us an opportunity to help our colleagues until they get back on their feet."

This donation from GAR is one of thousands made by individual Realtors and associations nationwide to the Realtors Relief Fund, which was established by the National Association of Realtors to assist disaster victims and their families with housing and other critical needs. Of the $1.6 million already pledged to the Fund, $1 million has already been released to the state Realtor associations of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

"This money is being given by Realtors across the nation, and every nickel is going back out to help the victims of this catastrophe; NAR is absorbing all administrative costs," said Martin Edwards Jr., NAR Past President and a director of the Realtors Relief Fund. "We're just getting started. This project will be ongoing. The devastation is so widespread and the losses so significant that it will take years for these areas to recover." 

Similar efforts have been made in the past for disaster relief. In 2004, GAR members donated over $20,000 to Florida Realtors affected by hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan. When Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida in 1992, Realtors from across the U.S. donated $320,000 in relief funds. Funds were also collected for the Charleston-Trident Association of Realtors after Hurricane Hugo struck in 1989.