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QCARA volunteers (l to r) Amy Laing, Mindy Dodd and Jinnie Riley.
The Quad City Area REALTOR® Association (QCARA) has participated in two holiday projects so far, making contributions to the Quad City Toys for Tots Marines and Salvation Army in Davenport, Iowa.
Toys for Tots
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(Left to right) Thaddius Mertens, Tristan Reimolds, Kendra Mulcahy, Jamie Stevens, Rachel Thomas, Brittany Nylin, Ellen Conklin, Sherry Kupresin, Mindy Dodd, Bonnie Turner, Lisa Urban, Ashley Rowe, Shirley Masterson, Barb Hensen.
For several months, 13 different brokerages helped collect toys for QCARA that were used to decorate a 20-foot Christmas tree is displayed at a weeklong local event called “Festival of Trees.” Once the event is over, the toys will be delivered to needy children by the Marines working on the Toys for Tots project.
“It’s amazing what our Quad City Realtors can do when we work together,” says Mikki Vrban Krantz, Quad City Area REALTORS Association member. “We were able to collect more toys this year than I’ve ever seen in my six years of being involved with the Toy Tree.”
Salvation Army Food Drive
In mid-November, QCARA matched the $1,000 donation to the Davenport (Iowa) Salvation Army from the REALTOR® Foundation of Iowa. The donation bought groceries at a local HyVee grocery store. On Nov. 16, 14 QCARA members loaded up cars and trucks with food to take to the Salvation Army.
“We are lucky to have an association filled with caring members who are willing to go out of their way to help out our community,” says Ellen Conklin, QCARA information specialist. “Giving back not only helps the less fortunate, but creates good character of the individuals who participate.”
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(L to r) Barb Hensen, Ryan Byrne, Morgan Zambrano, Maggie Rummery, Dawnita Neff, Tayler Scheetz, John Rule, Lisa Schaffer, Ted Leuck, Sean Eckhardt, Fred Dasso, Jinnie Riley and Ellen Conklin.
QCARA officers are: President Dave Maubach of Mel Foster Co., President-Elect Becky Burke of Koestner & Associates and Secretary-Treasurer David Levin. Sharon Carlson is the association executive.
(This blog post is the first in a series about charitable community work performed by local REALTOR® associations during the last two months of the year. To share a story idea, contact [email protected].)