Day of Caring

Every year, we close all of our offices for a day and work at non-profits in one or more of the communities we serve.  This year, we chose to work at Connecticut Hospice in Branford, which had been battered by winds and tide during Hurricane Irene.  Over 50 of us went with rakes, paintbrushes, chain saws, and leaf blowers to clean up debris, repaint furniture, wash windows, and remove wet leaves from the bottom of the swimming pool, as well as to work indoors on materials for Hospice's big annual service for families in late September.  We estimate that we worked about 250 man (person) hours, and did the work that contractors had bid large amounts to complete.  We astounded the maintenance staff at Hospice, who were skeptical about the work ethic and expertise of a group of volunteers, and we once again proved that we put our muscle where our mouth is. 

By the end of the day, eating pizza on the patio and looking out over what we had accomplished, there was a wonderful feeling that comes from honest work and tired bodies, combined with the knowledge that we had made other peoples' lives a little bit better.  Thanks to all who participated, most of whom don't get paid and do it out completely out of the kindness of their hearts, and thanks to Hospice, which welcomed  us and worked alongside us to meet our goals.  It's one of our favorite days of the Pearce year, and one that we will look forward to again next September.

Is Madison, Wisconsin Leading the Way for Us?

As most of you know by now, I belong to a group of large independent real estate companies around the country. Some are in big cities, but most are in smaller cities (although bigger than New Haven or Hartford). For some reason, Madison, Wisconsin seems to be the most like our region. Dave Stark, the owner of Stark Real Estate there, and I have discussed this, and it's likely to have a lot to do with the employment base. They have both the state capitol in Madison, and the University of Wisconsin, and those are the two biggest employers. If you didn't know that before, you weren't watching the state workers picketing the Madison capitol!

Having a lot of non-profit and government workers in a region usually makes the employment situation steadier, as well as the use of commercial space. Universities and governmental bodies think in terms of decades, not months. Also, you don't often have the boom times that you would find in Silicon Valley, say, or Wall Street, or even a smaller place where a large manufacturer might open or expand a facility.

Therefore, I thought it was very good news last week when I received Stark's quarterly mailing. While they had the same horrible first quarter that seemed to prevail everywhere, the recent signs have been encouraging. They see lots of pending activity, and increased interest in real estate. I hope it gets here as fast as a big storm seems to do!

Our Annual Day of Caring

For the past eight years, we have closed all of our offices for one fall day, and volunteered in non-profit settings around Greater New Haven. Tomorrow is this year's day, and we will be at Saint Martin de Porres Academy in the Hill section of New Haven. Some of us do hard physical labor, while others do office work. It's great to work as a team across offices, with coworkers that we don't get to see all the time.

Day of Caring was created by United Way after 9/11. I remember the first year, and how good it felt to be doing something positive on such a mournful day. Agents came up to me and commented on their gratitude, to be able to commemorate sorrow and do good at the same time. Over the ensuing years, it became part of the H. Pearce calendar, that demonstrated our values as a company, and gave back to the communities that nourish us.

This year seems a little different. While we still believe in giving back, and we still support United Way, many agents are hurting economically themselves. They may have taken a second job, or given up luxuries (and maybe necessities), as they struggle to cope with a flailing real estate market. We all have uncertainty and worry about the future.

Ironically, this is the time when we should be helping others the most. It's when you reach out to give a boost to someone needier that you feel best about your own life, your own good fortune, and the future of all of us. We all need a helping hand every once in a while, and it's nice to have given one ourselves.