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REALTORŪ Tsunami Relief Project

(Article taken from the NAR News REALTORŪ Magazine, January 18, 2005.)

NAR President Al Mansell is asking members of the REALTORŪ family to help put victims of December's devastating tsunami in South Asia back into permanent housing by contributing to the construction of "REALTORŪ Villages" in the hard-hit countries of India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and the Sumatra region of Indonesia, through a partnership with Habitat for Humanity International.

NAR and Habitat have set a goal to build 1,000 core housing units. To cover the full cost, NAR has set a $1 million goal for the REALTORŪ Tsunami Relief Project, established by NAR January 5. All contributions to the REALTORŪ Tsunami Relief Project will be donated to Habitat to construct the REALTORŪ Villages.

"The magnitude of personal suffering caused by the tsunami, in number of deaths and injuries to people, and destruction of homes and property is astounding. NAR feels that since our mission is housing, it would appropriate to assist tsunami victims by providing them shelter. We have an ongoing relationship with Habitat and we are impressed with how extremely efficient the organization has been in getting the donated dollar to the persons in need," said Mansell, who urged REALTORSŪ, as well as members of the public, to contribute to the project to achieve the million dollar goal. Since its inception a little more than two weeks ago, the REALTORŪ project has collected approximately $250,000 from more than 1,300 individual contributors.

REALTORŪ Villages are designed to get the homeless out of temporary shelters in camps as a first step toward permanent housing. The villages comprise "core houses," which are permanent structures that, in some cases, will be built on the foundation of the previous homes. Each unit would feature one room and a porch under a roof, plus sanitary facilities. The homes could be later improved and extended.

Habitat has mobilized staff to provide help in the four countries and plans to build homes for up to 25,000 families in the first phase of transitional housing as it works to provide permanent housing solutions. The organization estimates that the effort will require a commitment of $25 million over two years. Groundbreaking on the new homes is expected before the end of this month.

"NAR's effort to help Habitat for Humanity help others exemplifies the good in humankind," said Tom Jones, vice president of Habitat for Humanity International. "We are truly grateful that NAR and HFHI once more will join in partnership to meet needs about which both organizations so deeply care. This will have permanent positive results for families rebuilding their lives." All of the administrative costs of conducting the REALTORŪ Tsunami Relief Project are being absorbed by NAR; 100 percent of all donations will go directly to Habitat for construction of the REALTORŪ Villages.

Contributions to REALTORŪ Tsunami Relief Project are tax deductible. In addition, Congress passed and President Bush recently signed Public Law 109-1 that allows tax relief in 2004 taxes for contributions made by Jan. 31, 2005, to victims of the December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami.

Contributions can be made online at REALTOR.org's secure site powered by NAR's e-commerce system.

To contribute by mail, checks should be made payable to the REALTORŪ Tsunami Relief Project and sent to: REALTORŪ Tsunami Relief Project, Attn: NAR Finance Division, 430 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611.

Habitat for Humanity International, based in Americus, Ga., is an ecumenical Christian ministry dedicated to eliminating poverty housing. By the end of 2005, Habitat will have built its 200,000th house and more than 1 million people will be living in Habitat homes they helped build.