Strengthening Valuable Relationships
In November, I flew to Orlando, Fla., for the Rebuilding Together conference and the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) conference.
Frankly, attending the Rebuilding Together conference was a learning experience for me. Although ASHI has enjoyed an ongoing relationship with this non-profit organization since the days when it was known as Christmas in April, I didn’t realize it had been able to assemble over 200 affiliates, working in over 1,800 towns around the country to provide a “Christmas in April” experience to poor (below the poverty line) American homeowners and needy veterans.
I learned from those in attendance how the organization has been able to do this with annual contributions of tens of millions of dollars from the likes of Sears, Lowe’s, Shell Oil Company, PODS, Great Grips, HGTV, Swan Corp., Sherwin Williams, etc., and, oh yes, ASHI chapters around the country supplying free inspection services to Rebuilding Together affiliates.
The homes of senior citizens, veterans, disabled homeowners and other needy families ($18,000 average family income) are inspected and get critical home repairs to make them safe and healthy places to live. Over 10,000 projects are completed each year. They say over 600,000 people were served in 2011, using the contributed labor of over 600,000 Americans, providing over 2.8 million hours of service. In spite of this, more than 6,000 needy homeowners are on the waiting list.
I’m proud to say that last year, my local Tri-State ASHI Chapter inspected over 25 houses in Philadelphia for Rebuilding Together, as have many ASHI chapters throughout the country. The fact that I didn’t know illustrates a problem. We need to do a better job of letting our members, Realtors® and the public know about the wonderful philanthropic activities of ASHI inspectors around the country. Through our public relations representatives and perhaps an email platform, chapters could report to ASHI, the press, Realtors® and the public the good public service work being done, and also mention it at our annual conference. This will encourage members to do more good deeds, share best practices, improve on them and differentiate our professional society of home inspectors from our competitors.
While I was at the conference, I met with a vice president from Sears and we talked about entering into a program that would provide our members with discount coupons to share with their customers. We’re looking forward to doing this.
Since the NAR conference also was in Orlando that week, I was able to attend it as well. There, I met with Realtors, appraisers and inspectors to learn about their perspective of issues pertinent to our common interests, and continue the relationship building that has been of importance to ASHI throughout our history.
Next month, I’ll be publishing my annual report and Bill Jacques will be taking over this column; therefore, I’d like to say that one of my most rewarding duties has been representing ASHI in discussions with other non-profits, industry groups and governmental bodies. ASHI truly represents the profession in all these environments.
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