YARD SALE FOR A CURE

I thought I would share this post by my broker - Debra Bain - about how the "Yard Sale for a Cure" got started. I am proud to be a member of the REMAX Hallmark team. We are involved in the community in so many ways - our Breakfast Program - the Childrens' Miracle Network - and the Yard Sale for a Cure

Here is Debra's post.

May 02, 2008
Yard Sale for the Cure by Debra Bain
How the "Yard Sale for the Cure" all began...

With all the talk about the "Yard Sale For The Cure" just around the corner I thought that I would tell you the story of how it all started.

About 3 years ago I got a call from one of our agents Cindy Shanks asking me if I could meet with a woman in the Beach who had a great fund raising idea for Breast Cancer. Of course, I said yes. When Cindy and I met Rachael Smith at the Queen Office I was taken with her commitment to fight the disease which she had just finished treatment for. She was very organized and had really thought thru a plan to have people in the Beach community all have a yard sale on the same day and donate the money raised to help the fight against Breast Cancer. It was a monumental task to distribute the yard sale kits which included a yard sign, a t-shirt and pink balloons. People from the community signed up on line and then picked up their kits at the Beach office. We had hundreds of signs and t-shirts stored in the basement at Queen. All of the staff participated and there was a steady stream of people in and out of the office for weeks. There was a great buzz about it all! The agents sent letters to their clients asking them to participate and some of them even door knocked the streets delivering flyer's. What happened next was nothing short of amazing. On the day of the Yard Sale there were hundreds of signs scattered thru-out the beach and people came out in droves to purchase the items laid out on the lawns and driveways of homes.

It was a huge success, money was raised, and a bigger ambition was born.

What followed next was an introduction of Rachael and her husband Howard to Christine Martysiewicz at RE/MAX Ontario. RE/MAX embraced the idea, and put their marketing and promotion department behind it. The 2nd year it expanded to many towns across Ontario with each local RE/MAX office getting involved just as we did the year before. Year 3, it is now across Canada!!!

It is incredible to me to see how it has grown and expanded in such a short time. All of us should be extremely proud that this event which helps many woman with breast cancer was started right here at RE/MAX Hallmark!!!