10k for charity helping families after Harvey
The Movement Foundation gave $10,000 to a charity helping families in Houston clean their homes, find temporary shelter and gather supplies in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
The money will assist storm relief efforts spearheaded by TLG Gives, the philanthropic arm of real estate firm the Loken Group with Keller Williams. Founded in 2016, the nonprofit helps families transform homes that were either uninhabitable or had accessibility problems. It also provides gifts during the holidays to families enduring hardship.
Movement team members in the Houston area nominated TLG Gives for the money as part of the Movement 10k giveaway, a monthly campaign to gift $10,000 to nonprofits significant to the company's employees. Although it had already chosen a September winner for the 10k, the foundation stepped in a second time to support an organization already helping storm victims.
Hurricane Harvey, the biggest rainstorm in U.S. history, battered the Lone Star State with torrential rain and historic flooding at the end of August. The devastation displaced thousands of residents, many of whom are still struggling to recover in the wake of the widespread damage.
"A lot of our clients…and people in the community are displaced, flooded out and don't have a place to go," says Kelly Rogers, branch manager of Movement's operations in The Woodlands community, about 28 miles north of Houston. "Now, we're helping them on this side."
Once Harvey hit, TLG Gives set up a command center where volunteers collected and stored toiletries, pillows, blankets and other supplies and mobilized to help people in the community clean out their homes, says Amy Flynn, who runs the Loken Group's inside sales division.
TLG Gives also solicited nominations from people who knew families needing help, and raised more than $50,000 to help those victims pay for temporary shelter, cleaning supplies or small home rehabs.
"For some folks, it was money to pay for their hotel stay while they were looking for more secure housing," Flynn says. "For others, we were able to get them money to pay the rent that was overdue. We were also able to give funds for new appliances."
The week after the hurricane, TLG Gives partnered with Keller Williams International, which converted its four-day annual training Mega Camp for associates and their families into Mega Relief, a weeklong disaster relief campaign.
"We're fortunate to be in real estate because what people need most is housing — a temporary place while their home is repaired, or getting out of a home that won't be repaired," Flynn says. "We think that if you give back to others, it will come back to you. And really, what people needed most was help."
