FW: Re: [OSLIST] A company taking care of its own . . .

Barry Owen owengroup at comcast.net
Sat Sep 3 14:24:34 PDT 2005


This comes from Michael Hermann - And a clarifiaction . . . The KW Cares DOES benefit members of Keller Williams (Who in this case also happen to be "the people") . . . My email was not a solicitation for anyone on this list to give to kwcares (Although your donations would not be refused :-) . . . I'm simply amazed by the response of this organization . . . I agree 100% with Michael - Give as DIRECTLY as possible . . . and please know that these people will be affected long term.

Thank you,

b
-------------- Forwarded Message: -------------- 
From: Michael Herman <mjherman at gmail.com> 
To: Barry Owen <owengroup at comcast.net> 
Subject: Re: [OSLIST] A company taking care of its own . . . 
Date: Sat, 3 Sep 2005 21:05:40 +0000 

could you forward this to the list, barry, my gmail won't allow me to 
mail there just now... tech glitches... thanks, m 

--- 

All good news, Barry. Great stories, and actions. AND... i'm not 
clear if KWCares is funding associates or their neighborhoods. I'm 
not too keen on giving money to an organization, unless the money is 
going straight through to the people. Almost sounds like money given 
to KW might be donated further in KW name... so you might clarify that 
one. 

Now, on the other hand, it didn't take long to find out that a friend 
of mine used to live 4 blocks from one fo the three main breaks in the 
levees. I sent her money direclty. I suggested same to my mom, don't 
give to red cross right away... ask around, find out who you know. 
turns out a neighbor walked in just a few hours later and mentioned a 
brother in law in the 'lost everything' zone. bingo. another 
neighbor the next morning mentioned a friend also lost everything. 

real self-organization probably means there isn't a tax receipt, but 
the money goes directly into somebody's hand. person to person. 
unmediated community. people getting money from other people, who 
they don't even know. no faceless organization, but real people. 

so let's not forget the possibility of really personal giving. 

Michael 



On 9/3/05, Barry Owen wrote: 
> 
> I watched and watched - couldn't fathom the immensity of it all . . . Even 
> as we in Tennessee had Katrina pass over us - closing our schools - 
> subjecting us to unusually violent storms - and having NO earthly notion of 
> the extent of damage in MS and LA. 
> 
> My company Keller Williams Realty has (had) 12 offices in the afflicted 
> coastal area with @ 1100 associates. Even today, we have only heard from 45 
> of those 1100 people. We are ever hopeful that most left the area befrore 
> the storm hit. . . . and then the reality of it hit . . . Our company is a 
> real estate company - Even if all of these folks survive, their "Livelihood" 
> is now dead . . . There will not be a lively real estate market for a long 
> time. 
> 
> How has our company reacted? We are a company of independent contractors 
> (Real Estate Sales people). Our corporate office and virtually EVERY single 
> office nationally (500 offices and 50,000 associates) sprang into action. 
> 
> - We have a fund called "KW Cares" set up solely for the purpose of helping 
> our own membership through tough times. We thought this fund would be there 
> to support individual families - victims of isolated tragedy . . . It was 
> not evolved enough to comprehend supporting the possibility of @ 1000 
> families in distress. 100% of the donations to KW Cares go to aid - it is 
> administered by KW 
> - Within 72 hours of the landfall of Katrina, KW Cares received IMMEDIATE 
> funding of over 3 MILLION Dollars coming from agents across the country. 
> - EVERY office in the country will be donating 10% of its profits DIRECTLY 
> to KW Cares - Those donations will automatically hit the account on Tuesday 
> amounting to several more million 
> - EVERY KW associate has been "challenged" to donate $100 individually 
> within the next 2 weeks (another $5 Million) 
> - Several agents who own their own moving trucks have loaded the trucks with 
> supplies and sent them to the affected region - our truck left this morning 
> - An instantaneous network has appeared to identify housing opoprtunities 
> for "refugees" . . . Our associates are offering unrented investment 
> properties etc 
> - Blood drives are being organized by an office in every city served by KW 
> - I'm sure there is more . . . needless to say, we are DIRECTLY affected by 
> this storm - and I am amazed by the quick and generous response of our 
> entire organization. 
> 
> I live in Nashville, TN - Nashville will be one of the "recieving points" of 
> refugees and medical evacuees (Vanderbilt University) . . . We have a "wing" 
> of the air National Guard making regular relief flights. Nashville is a 
> small enough city that we are ALL affected immediately (Gas prices have 
> doubled in 3 days time). . . There is not a single life in our city that has 
> not been directly affected - and we are 350+ miles from New Orleans . . . I 
> have several friends (doctors pilots etc) who have been up-rooted from 
> "normal routine" and sent to the Gulf Coast for an indefinite period of 
> time. 
> 
> I believe EVERYONE is doing what they can individually do - The sheer 
> immensity of this catastrophy has overwhelmed even the most stalwart folks. 
> My family was heading to the mountains for a long Labor Day week-end - We 
> cancelled the trip and donated the money we would have spent on the trip to 
> KW Cares. 
> 
> I see there are many emails on this list @ aid . . . I can only reaffirm the 
> mantra I keep hearing - SEND MONEY to the organizations which are pioneering 
> the relief efforts . . . and pay attention to the percentage of that money 
> that will actually be used to benefit the distressed people. These folks 
> have lost EVERYTHING . . . Those who have survived have lost their homes and 
> their careers and their neighborhoods and their childhood landmarks - 
> EVERYTHING - The organizations on the ground in that region can (and will) 
> rebuild as quickly as their funding provides - Keller Williams realizes this 
> and has turned on a HUGE money generating machine . . . 
> 
> Speaking of SELF-ORGANIZATION . . . 
> 
> b 
> 
> Some links to organizations aiding the relief efforts 
> 
> KW Cares 
> www.kwcares.org 
> 
> American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund 
> http://www.redcross.org/ 
> (800) 435-7669 
> 
> Catholic Charities, USA 
> http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/ 
> (800) 919-9338 
> 
> Salvation Army 
> http://www.1800salarmy.org/ 
> (800) 725-2769 
> 
> United Methodist Committee On Relief 
> http://gbgm-umc.org/ 
> (800) 554-8583 
> 
> America's Second Harvest 
> http://www.secondharvest.org/ 
> 1-800-344-8070 
> 
> -- 
> What does your "way" move you towards? 
> 
> Barry Owen 
> The Owen Group 
> Keller Williams Realty 
> The fastest growing, most innovative real estate firm in North America! 
> 105 Westpark Dr Suite 100 
> Brentwood, TN 37027 
> 615.568.2123 
> http://www.geocities.com/barryo.geo * * 
> ========================================================== 
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To subscribe, 
> unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of 
> oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu: 
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To 
> learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: 
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist 


-- 

Michael Herman 
Michael Herman Associates 
300 West North Ave #1105 
Chicago IL 60610 USA 
Phone: 312-280-7838 
http://www.michaelherman.com 
mherman at globalchicago.net 

Executive Facilitation ...getting 
the most important things done in 
the easiest possible ways. 

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20050903/6befcaac/attachment-0015.htm>


More information about the OSList mailing list