Rainmaker Properties

Real estate agent Sara Greenwood and I had the great opportunity to help a family move into their first home in the desirable Cupertino / West San Jose Capistrano Community. The sellers gave Sara a great review on Yelp. We were thankful to have had another opportunity to cultivate a great relationship with a client and as part of our Rainmaker Properties mission, we were able to make a charitable contribution to an organization that has had a huge impact in Sara’s life: the March of Dimes organization. Below is Sara’s story…

March of Dimes is a charitable organization that has a mission to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. They carry out their mission through research, community services, education and advocacy to save babies’ lives. March of Dimes advocates work to give all babies a fighting chance against threats to their health.

March of Dimes is an organization that is very personal to me. Because of their mission, my daughter may not be here today. Astrid Gwyneth was born 11 weeks premature weighing only 610 grams (1 lb, 5 oz). She was born at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose with a condition called IUGR/SGA (Intrauterine growth restricted/Small for Gestational Age).
Although I thought that I was having a perfectly normal and healthy pregnancy, my last doctor’s visit revealed that she wasn’t growing inside my womb because she didn’t have the proper nutrients to keep her alive. The flow of nutrients and oxygen to her body were restricted because of an abruption to her placenta; the placenta was extremely close to being detached from her only source of life — me. It was decided that she would thrive better outside my body and have a better chance of survival, and was delivered at only 29 weeks (normal gestation is 40 weeks). She had the struggle of her life before she even had her first breath.

I continually flashback to the moment in the delivery room when I saw Astrid being quickly handed off from the doctor, and into the hands of Nurse Heather Emery; she needed to be quickly turned over from my body and into the apparatus of an incubator. Heather was Astrid’s primary nurse for the time that she spent in the hospital; she took care of my baby and saw my family experience some extremely stressful and emotional times. There were a lot of heartbreaking and anxious moments as we watched Astrid grow from a 1 lb baby to when she finally came home 3 months later weighing ~4 lb.

Today, Astrid is a beautiful and bright 3-year old. She is normal in every way. I thank Heather, thank Good Samaritan hospital, and thank March of Dimes for keeping my baby alive by giving that fighting chance that was threatening her precious life.

“March of Dimes is raising money to help fewer little ones be born early, and to make life easier on the ones who are.”

~Heather Emery, Nurse, Good Samaritan Hospital

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Today, the simple task of cleaning my closet made my day and probably somebody else’s, too.

I’ve had a bag for old clothes in my closet for months. But like so many of us, I’ve always found something more important to do than to rummage through my clothes and bag up the ones I haven’t worn in ages. And once you see
something like a bag for old clothes in your closet for a while, it becomes part of the scenery.

But recently I was in my car driving to a listing appointment in Mountain View and heard a radio ad about Men’s Wearhouse’s National Suit Drive, and I finally became motivated to act. Through the end of October, the national menswear retailer is collecting gently used suits, sport coats, slacks, ties, and belts to benefit at-risk men and youth who are transitioning into the workforce but who don’t have the money to purchase that professional attire themselves. All the clothing it receives will be distributed in communities throughout the nation by local nonprofit organizations.

In exchange for your donation, you get a 10 percent coupon toward your next purchase at Men’s Wearhouse, along with a tax deduction.

I gathered up and took in about five suits, a dozen shirts, some pants, and some shoes. But I didn’t do it because I wanted a coupon or a tax deduction. I did it because I’ve always believed in giving back to my community. Donating clothes I don’t wear anymore was a way to help out-of-work people. Any help the unemployed can get, the better we’ll all be.

While I was in the store dropping the clothes off, it was such a positive experience knowing that everyone there was working toward a common cause. After I left, I felt really good. I felt like I’d accomplished something and donated to a charitable cause.

Do yourself—and somebody else—a favor. Take an hour to rifle through your closet, and pull out the clothes you know you won’t wear again. Then join a good cause by taking a drive over to a Men’s Wearhouse near you.

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One of the non-profits Rainmaker Properties supports is Habitat for Humanity. The local Peninsula Habitat for Humanity recently merged with the San Francisco Chapter to create the Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco chapter. Their mission continues to be to provide affordable housing and home ownership in the Bay Area by working with families and the community.

Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco is proud to present the Eichler Home Tour on Saturday, September 6, 2008. This special self-guided tour will offer design enthusiasts and the general public a look into the world of Eichler residences in Palo Alto. All proceeds from the event will support Habitat Greater San Francisco’s efforts to build homes and hope in Marin, San Francisco and the Peninsula.

The tour will begin at 10 AM at the Eichler Swim and Tennis Club at 3539 Louis Road in Palo Alto. Tickets are $40 and are ta deductible.

If you’re not familiar with the Eichler, I recently sold one in Sunnyvale and talk a little about the background of these highly desirable mid-century moderns.

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One of the local Silicon Valley faith organizations that Rainmaker Properties supports is the Great Exchange Covenant Church (GrX) in Santa Clara. GrX has been a great influence in my own personal life as well as with the local and global community.

GrX will be presenting a photo documentary on the truth about modern human trafficking.

This exhibit seeks to put a human face on a human trade that takes its victims across international borders. It challenges the world to address the globalization of human trafficking and slavery in the 21st century.

Humans For Sale: A Photo Documentary
Friday September 5, 2008 7:00PM to 10:00PM
River of Life Christian Church
1177 Laurelwood Rd
Santa Clara, CA 95054

Exhibit material may not be appropriate for children under 14. Parental discretion advised.

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Whenever one of our agents completes a real estate transaction, Rainmaker Properties donates a portion of the commissions to a charity of our client’s choice. For me, it’s always an enriching experience and I learn about new groups in our community that are working to help others.

A couple weeks ago, my team helped a client sell her townhouse located in the Mountain View Park development in the Whisman Mountain View neighborhood and my client asked me to make a donation to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. I wasn’t familiar with it, and the 35-year-old group invited me to take a tour of their San Carlos warehouse (the smaller of two warehouses, the other one located in San Jose). It turned out to be an eye-opening and touching visit for me.

Thanks to the experience, I found that hunger is really a hidden tragedy in our community. You can usually tell if someone is poor. Or if someone is homeless. But you can’t see hunger. This really got me to think about how I can often take for granted the ability to have a almost any type of meal at anytime of the day.

Second Harvest is the largest nonprofit provider of food to low income households in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, and it provides food to an average of 163,000 individuals each month. Families make up 67 percent of the recipients and 12 percent are seniors.

Those are pretty shocking numbers. Even though we live in solidly middle class environment, there are so many people who have to make the choice between paying for housing and utilities or buying food. And with the economy in flux, even more people are feeling pinched.

Though Second Harvest gets donations from large food distributors, it relies heavily on regular people like us too to stay afloat. Its programs go beyond the traditional food pantry.

One is a toll-free hotline, with a multilingual staff, that helps people find food in their neighborhood; another provides food to more than 400 non-profit agencies that run soup kitchens, rehabilitation centers, schools and shelters for victims of domestic violence.

And yet another program helps approximately 12,600 low-income seniors and disabled people through weekly grocery deliveries. Volunteers also deliver food to the homebound.

The group works to get nutritious snacks to low-income kids during after-school, summer, and youth programs. And during the summer, when kids don’t have access to subsidized school meals, Second Harvest helps local soup kitchens and agencies feed approximately 20,000 children.

So if you’re looking for volunteer opportunities or a place to donate food or money, Second Harvest is terrific group. I’m going to add it to the list of charities I support, and with the help of Second Harvest, Rainmaker Properties will be doing a food drive during the holidays this year.

For more information, here’s the contact information: Second Harvest, www.2ndharvest.net, (408) 266-8866. If you know of anyone who needs food assistance, call the Food Connection Hotline: 1-800-984-FOOD (3663).

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By putting your confidence and trust in Rainmaker Properties, you help us give 10% of our income to support charitable causes, education, the arts, social services, and volunteerism. As we are half way through the 2008 business year, we’ve already raised over $50,000 for our communities.

Below are a few of the organizations that we support. As we serve more clients and have the opportunities to serve more charities, I’ll add to the list…

Abundant Life Christian Fellowship
Hidden Villa
China Sichuan Earthquake Relief Fund

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