Realtor Board creates program for volunteers
Mike Young shows off his lederhosen at Incline's Oktoberfest celebration last fall.
Bonanza File Photo-Carrie Richards
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By Tanya Canino
Bonanza Editor
Community outreach ready to send help where needed
There is not a shortage of fundraisers in Incline Village, although sometimes there can be a lack of volunteers working those charity events.
“It tends on a fundraiser event that it’s always just a handful that does most of the work,” said Christina Ledson, an Incline Village Realtor.
But no more — the Incline Village Board of Realtors is offering free manpower to Incline Village and Crystal Bay nonprofit organizations.
It has established the Realtor Community Outreach committee, which supplies volunteers to nonprofit organizations needing help with their events, according to Ledson, who chairs the committee.
“We have a cadre of volunteers where someone in town can call us. We have a little workforce to help pull events off,” said John Nugent, president of the Incline Village Board of Realtors.
At the Incline High School Boosters Club Crab Feed in February, Realtors were manning silent auction tables. At Christmas, Realtors distributed the donation boxes for Toys for Tots throughout the community.
The Monster Bash at the Hacienda was staffed by Realtors to help with the Halloween fundraiser for the Incline Schools Academic Excellence Foundation. At the Village Center’s Spirit Days, Realtors worked at the Oktoberfest booth.
“It’s free help,” said Ledson.
The Incline Village Board of Realtors established the Realtor Community Outreach committee last October, Ledson said. Many Realtors volunteer throughout the community anyway, this just puts a focus on their efforts, she said.
“Our main goal is to be hands-on and be able to help out, instead of just writing a check,” Ledson said.
Pier Warmuth, one of the board members of the IVBOR, is the liaison between the volunteer committee chair and the board.
“Christina is the heartbeat of the whole thing,” said Warmuth, a Realtor for Coldwell Banker Incline Village Realty.
Warmuth has volunteered all her life, and agrees that providing Realtor manpower will not be a problem.
There are about 300 Realtors presently (including all primary, secondary, MLS only, etc.) members in the IVBOR.
The board also has about 80 affiliate members.
However, community organizations are still hesitant to call upon the Realtor Community Outreach committee, she said.
“We need to plant the idea in their heads that they can take some good help for free,” Warmuth said.
Upcoming events in which the outreach committee plans to participate are Red, White and Tahoe Blue and the Kids and Horses event in September, Ledson said.
The Tahoe Children’s Foundation responded to a Bonanza advertisement and called the committee for help, she said, and other organizations are finding out through word-of-mouth.
The IVBOR is keeping track of its volunteer hours and turning them into the Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation.
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