As the culmination of our second annual cause campaign Raising Awareness. Taking Action: A Campaign to Help End Homelessness, Apartments.com donated $35,000 to three wonderful organizations dedicated to combating homelessness. This past week, I had the personal privilege to travel to Vogel Alcove in Dallas, TX and People Serving People in Minneapolis, MN to present two checks for $12,500, and then surprised the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless with a check for $10,000.
As part of our campaign, we promised to donate $1 to be shared equally between People Serving People and Vogel Alcove for every new “LIKE” Apartments.com received on Facebook from November until the end of December. While not an official recipient of the 2012 campaign, The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless was presented with a $10,000 check by our General Manager and Senior Vice President, Dick Burke, in recognition for their partnership with Apartments.com in our inaugural cause campaign in 2011.
These organizations were identified as the beneficiaries this year based on the outstanding services they provide to help people affected by homelessness in their individual cities.
People Serving People (Minneapolis, MN)
Located in downtown Minneapolis, People Serving People ‘s 10-story building is essentially a hotel whose primary form of hospitality comes in helping families to overcome homelessness, providing emergency shelter to 99 homeless families every night in Hennepin County.
Left to right: Jordan Unger of Apartments.com, Daniel Gumnit, CEO of People Serving People, Bob Hansen of Apartments.com, Tammy Kotula (me) of Apartments.com, Tory Greeninger of Apartments.com and Debora Barbosa of Apartments.com.
Vogel Alcove (Dallas, TX)
Vogel Alcove offers outstanding free-quality child development services for Dallas’ youngest victims of poverty: homeless children 6 weeks to 5 years old.
Left to right: Karen Hughes, President and CEO of Vogel Alcove and Tammy Kotula of Apartments.com.
The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (Chicago, IL)
The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless was founded over 30 years ago on one simple premise: that in a just society, housing is a human right. The organization works with families, youths and adults, advocating to better lives through access to shelter, housing, jobs and schools.
Left to right: Tammy Kotula of Apartments.com, Dick Burke of Apartments.com, Arturo Hernandez of Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Michael Nameche of Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Julie Dworkin of Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and Eithne McMenamin of Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.
While we realize these contributions by themselves won’t bring an end to homelessness, we hope it helps these fine organizations to be able to continue the monumental good they do each and every day.
