Many children rely on school lunch programs every day and when schools were closed at the beginning of the stay-at-home order earlier this year, communities scrambled to find alternatives. However, in Horry County, South Carolina, several school employees helping to prepare free, drive-through lunches to meet this need tested positive for COVID-19, so the program was closed.
Help 4 Kids was the organization driving this initiative. Help 4 Kids began in 2004 when, with help from teachers and school administrators to identify children in need, they distributed 300 backpacks filled with nutritious, child friendly, self-serve food. Today, this organization serves more than 3,000 food packs per week to the children of Horry County. The program closure due to the pandemic put an additional strain on Help 4 Kids as they were unable to hold their traditional fundraisers.
Enter EXIT Coastal Real Estate Pros.
MaryAnne Dorio, Broker/Owner, and her team of real estate professionals were determined to support the good work of Help 4 Kids during this most unusual time and they reached out to EXIT Realty Corp. International for help. 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. The team at EXIT Coastal Real Estate Pros put out a call-to-action to their past and present clients and the community at large to raise funds with a goal of $5,000 in mind which EXIT Realty Corp. International was proud to match, but they exceeded their expectations resulting in a total donation to Help 4 Kids of $10,606.01.
“Nothing you do for children is ever wasted; it makes a difference in their lives,” said Barb Mains, Director of Help 4 Kids. “We are grateful to EXIT Realty for the recent fundraiser. This will help us feed a lot of children.”
