By Chrissy Lindgren, REALTOR® with The Jones Team, EXIT Landmark Realty, White Plains MD
I partner with Last Chance Animal Rescue in my real estate business. My clients have an option to donate 10% of my commission to either Last Chance Animal Rescue or NewStory. I also organize bi-annual events/fundraisers for Last Chance. For my first event this year, I put together an online charity auction. I received donations of goods and services from local businesses to create and auction off baskets worth $150-$300. All proceeds were donated to Last Chance Animal Rescue.
Last Chance Animal Rescue operates in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia. They take in cats and dogs from more than 50 high-kill shelters in 12 states, provide disaster relief services around the world, and support other areas in animal cruelty cases. LCAR partners with 30 Petco and PetSmart stores to provide in-store cat adoptions. They also offer low cost spay/neuter services for the Southern Maryland area. Since 1999, LCAR has rescued and rehomed over 100,000 pets!
A portion of every transaction fee received by EXIT Realty Corp. International is applied to its charitable fund. Through the Spirit of EXIT Dollar-for-Dollar Matching Program, EXIT offices and associates can raise money for local, approved, registered charities and apply to EXIT’s Head Office to have those funds matched from the company’s pledged pool of funds. Chrissy’s online auction raised $1,000 which EXIT’s Head Office was proud to match. At the last minute, she received an additional donation of $100 for a total donation to Last Chance Animal Rescue of $2,100.
I decided to partner with Last Chance for my commission donations after I heard about their involvement in the Wicomico County Horse Cruelty Case. On March 16th, 2018, more than 100 neglected horses and 25 deceased horses were found on a woman’s property. The horses were starving and had been eating the aluminum siding, fiberglass, and insulation off of the house to survive. The live horses were seized from the property by the local Humane Society. On March 19th, Last Chance Animal Rescue offered to assist. They took on 29 of the rescued horses and immediately started spreading the word about the “Wicomico 29” all over social media. Throughout the rehabilitation process and several babies being born, LCAR rewrote a story of tragedy into a story of hope.
