Phipps drives to build homes for Katrina victims
THE Warwick BEACON :
Written by SIBIELSKI, REBECCA
Thu, Apr 12 07
By REBECCA SIBIELSKI
“This is what realtors are all about. We are in the shelter business,” says Ron Phipps, national director of the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Phipps talked this week about his involvement in building houses for Hurricane Katrina victims through a project called Operation Home Delivery. Phipps, along with the Rhode Island Association of Realtors (RIAR) and realtor associations across the country, is lending his hands to bring relief to the victims.
Phipps, the driving force behind the project, became involved shortly after he was appointed an NAR liaison for housing and diversity. He was attending an orientation at the Washington, D.C., headquarters about a month after Katrina when he bumped into a friend, former Marine Danny Cooper.
Cooper told Phipps that the disaster was continuing to unfold after the storm had passed. The impact was felt and the strong, stoic Marine cried as he put into words the overwhelming human loss.
Phipps, deeply affected by the aftermath of Katrina, began to work closely with the NAR to create a national program encouraging every realtor association across the country to take part in raising funds to build a new home for survivors, with the objective to build 54 homes by December 2007.
Faced with an estimated $3.75 million budget, a leadership committee consisting of volunteer realtors from all around the nation joined together to come up with a way to raise money. The Realtor Relief Fund agreed to contribute $5,000 per house and The Realtor Foundation donated the remaining amount with money they collected for charity.
To date there have been 48 houses funded with six more to go.
Today and tomorrow (a tent has been erected so that the work can proceed in the anticipated snow and rain) from 7:30 a.m. to dusk, volunteers from RIAR will join forces with Habitat for Humanity Providence Chapter in building a new “House-in-a-Box” that will be shipped to one of four locations in the Gulf Coast that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Starting today participants will begin preliminary work on the houses and on Friday they will put together the exterior of a house to determine that the measurements are exact. The house will then be disassembled and shipped to a location to be erected in either Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi or Texas. Beginning at 10 a.m. on Friday, Phipps will lead more than 30 RIAR volunteers in commemorating the event with a “wall-raising” ceremony at their parking lot, 100 Bignall St. in Warwick.
Phipps said that although he may have proposed the concept, it was the hard work of thousands of realtors that made the project possible. “The process took a long time and it was a lot of work, but we all made it happen,” said Phipps.
Phipps, along with other participants, has left messages on the houses he has worked on. The date, place the house was built, good luck notes and other inspirational messages will stay on the exterior until the house is completed.
When the idea was first proposed, some people questioned what difference 54 houses would make when there was an estimated need for 100,000. Phipps’ response was simple. “You have the ability to positively alter the lives of these families. When you see a little girl holding her doll in her arms, ready to move into her new home, you can’t help but be touched by what you’ve done.”
Chelo’s Bar and Grill, Big Fish, and Dunkin’ Donuts will provide food and refreshments for volunteers. Anyone interested in participating in the event can contact the RIAR at 785-3650.
For more information please log onto www.phippsrealty.com
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