The Community Outreach Meeting

This past Tuesday I went to my first Community Outreach meeting. I am underwhelmed. It wasn't cliquish--because there are far too many new folks there for it to be so. But I suspect at one point it was, and that's why there are far too many new folks.

The Chair seems to have a commitment to the group, could manufacture words with more than one syllable and moved the meeting in the right direction. So, there's that. This group is a bit more eclectic than the Grievance Committee folks, who were there to get down to business.

A Type of Mechanical Lock Box

Fortunately, there was a point to us meeting (though it took about 15 minutes to figure this out). The Community Outreach group is there for a few purposes. First, they help with Realtor's critical needs. That is, if a realtor has a hardship, there is money allotted to help the agent. In fact, this is how I first heard of this group. A realtor I know passed away very suddenly. His family needed funds for his burial.

In addition to the critical needs, they also provide mechanical lock boxes to the East Valley municipalities. The boxes are placed on homes (with a key inside) where the elderly and disabled live. If a first responded is called to this residence, they can access the key instead of breaking down the door. I actually suggested we get Buckaroo's fire fighting teenagers involved in this.

The committee's charity of choice is a Veterans group (it was undefined which one) and they work throughout the year with real estate companies to support them. Last year, several agents took a Saturday to paint a few disabled veterans' homes.

They also have a "festival of trees," whereby they collect artificial Christmas trees from the communities  and give them to needy families. They work with the East Valley municipalities with this one too, looking for deserving folks.

In addition to the above, they hold blood drives and "social" events. There was some talk about making the blood drive some sort of Game of Thrones theme, but only three people (including the Chair) had ever watched Game of Thrones. That didn't stop the Chair from declaring that should would be the theme.

So far, I am not sorry I joined. But I am also not sorry I am missing next months' meeting.