People in need in Barrie enjoyed nutritious Easter meals thanks to the efforts of “The Hometeam.” The five REALTORS® from Sutton Group – Incentive Realty Inc. who make up the team are Stuart Anderson, Diane Neto, Mark Turcotte, Carolyn Bickerton and Graham Gray. They contacted the Barrie Food Bank to learn how they could help. Then, prior to Easter, these REALTORS® conducted their own food drive visiting 2,500 households and collecting 2,600 pounds of food!
“Last year, 30,000 people relied on the Barrie Food Bank,” says Diane Neto, speaking on behalf of the Hometeam. “It seemed like a perfect project for us because we wanted to make a direct difference and get involved in a local charity that wasn’t money-based. Many people have been struggling financially in our community. Use of the Barrie Food Bank has gone up by about 30% in the past year.”
Being a team made it much easier for them to undertake this type of charity project. “Mark suggested that we do something for the community since he always wanted to get involved. One person might find this daunting but five people can manage it. Mark approached the Barrie Food Bank to offer our help and they gave us a letter that we delivered to households the week before our food drive. The letter described our project and the items that the Barrie Food Bank needs most urgently such as dried goods, canned food, juice, baby food, diapers, pastas, etc. There was a long list.”
On the next two Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., each team member visited 500 households. They transported the food in four vans that were kindly lent for free by Discount and Budget rental agencies.
They formed the Hometeam in January of this year. “We are five licensed REALTORS® who all list and sell and we all have different strengths. I used to do marketing and advertising, so I do all the advertisements,” says Diane. “We pool our resources for advertising and we market ourselves together.”
This story was adapted – with permission – from one originally featured on the Sutton Spirit website. The Sutton Spirit program recognizes Sutton associates across Canada that improve and enhance the lives of the people around them.
