The Waterloo Region Association of REALTORS®’ (WRAR) enthusiastic participation in the Great Food Sort Challenge is providing meals for community members who are at risk of going hungry.
WRAR entered a 10-person team in the three-day event as well as sponsored it, taking part in a friendly competition with other business teams that assembled and boxed meals distributed by the Food Bank of Waterloo Region for families in need.
The Great Food Sort Challenge raised 198,146 meals in a competition that drew 28 teams fighting hunger in their communities. A total of 280 people (including the WRAR team) sorted 56,548 pounds of non-perishable food and raised $11,306. Since 2014, the Great Food Sort Challenge has been the source of over one million meals for those in need in the Waterloo region.
“I’ve always lived in the Waterloo region and this community has given so much to me,” says REALTOR® Megan Bell, WRAR President and Broker with Royal LePage Wolle Realty in Kitchener. “For us to be able to contribute as an organization and for me to be involved in the community as a volunteer to give back is something that I am passionate about.”
The WRAR team participated on the last day of the event, sorting 1,834 pounds of food, which equals more than 2,500 meals for the community. WRAR, which was created last August when the Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge associations merged, represents almost 2,500 REALTORS® and Brokers in the region.
The competition required each team to sort as much food as they could, as quickly as possible, during a 30-minute period. WRAR team members surrounded a table, grabbing food that was available and assembling it into boxes that would eventually be distributed by the Food Bank as needed.
“It was fun and exciting because everyone wanted to do as much as they could to help other people,” says Bell. “The cans were the toughest to sort – we were going so quickly that a couple fingers got smashed, though not badly. Everyone on every team really wanted to win. It required teamwork for us, and we were motivated by pitching in for a really good cause.”
Part of the day included getting a tour of the Food Bank facility and learning how the organization is having trouble keeping up with demand, especially when providing food to people in smaller communities, says Bell, where the need continues to grow.
The food bank ran the event for several years in the past but paused it for three years because of the pandemic. This is the first year for its reboot and the first time for the newly minted WRAR to participate.
Britanie Hagen, WRAR’s Events and Sponsorship Manager, worked on the back end to arrange logistics such as social media kits, handling membership donations and ensuring the team was ready to go during the day of the challenge, including providing them with REALTORS Care® t-shirts.
“Giving back to the community is an amazing feeling, especially when we can help struggling families,” she says. “You never know if someone close to you or even someone in your own family will need this kind of assistance.”
Bell says these kind of volunteer events are perfect for new REALTORS® who want to meet like-minded professionals and establish a network for helping in the community, as well as building a business. The WRAR team did win the challenge against the competing team, a financial firm, though they did not win the overall event. Regardless, these REALTORS®’ participation in the event is considered a win-win.
“It’s all about team building and giving back and this is something we can all enjoy doing in WRAR,” says Bell. Plans are underway to expand WRAR’s community activities including taking part next year in the Food Bank challenge.
