BRE Properties Named MatchBridge Employer of the Month

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Strong support for programs like RE4TA is why BRE Properties was recently named Spirit of the Bay award winners

For the last three years, MatchBridge has teamed up with the real estate industry to offer the youth they serve an leg up in finding positions within the industry. The program is called Real Estate 4 Tomorrow’s Adults (RE4TA) and is a partnership between MatchBridge, United Way of the Bay Area, and the San Francisco Real Estate sector.

While RE4TA has created many outstanding partnerships for MatchBridge, one company has stood out in its dedication to the community and youth employment. Year after year, BRE Properties has gone above and beyond for the RE4TA initiative. This is why they are MatchBridge’s employer of the month!

In its first year, Connie Moore, BRE Properties’ CEO, stepped up to head the Founders’ Circle, comprised of many prestigious firms including: AMB Property Corp., BRE Properties, Cushman & Wakefield, Sares Regis Group, Sunset Development, TMG Partners, Webcor Builders and UDR Inc. Since then, Connie has provided steady leadership, spoken on behalf of the program on numerous occasions, and has gone above and beyond behind-the-scenes to support the MatchBridge program at every opportunity.

Throughout the years, BRE Properties has broken the record for creating the most placements for young jobseekers interested in the industry. BRE’s aggressive approach to creating opportunities for young jobseekers truly exemplifies the concept of building up the workforce of tomorrow.

In the past, Connie Moore has even personally come in with a team of managers to lead RE4TA seminars to help guide and instruct the interns as they start their careers.

This summer, 36 internships were provided by MatchBridge’s RE4TA program, five of them with BRE Properties. During their term, interns have the opportunity to look further into real-estate specific roles like property management and residential sales or they can choose to sign onto more general departments like marketing, office management, and outside sales.

RE4TA, and the experiences of its participants, would not be possible without the continuing dedication and support of companies like BRE Properties. MatchBridge thanks all of the volunteers, companies, and interns for taking part in this year’s program and investing in tomorrow’s workforce.

Providing More Food For Families

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50% of all food distributed by Second Harvest Food Bank is perishable and includes a large amount of produce

United Way of the Bay Area recently awarded Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties a $28,000 grant to provide infrastructure and capacity upgrades for their partner emergency food pantries.  As opposed to a soup kitchen, an emergency food pantry is a program which provides non-perishable and perishable food to families and individuals to take home and prepare.

Because 50% of all food distributed by Second Harvest Food Bank is perishable and includes a large amount of produce, local pantries have a need for additional cold storage capacity and shelving.

“With this grant we will purchase and deliver refrigerators, freezers and shelving to 12 of our partner food pantries, thereby increasing their efficiency and effectiveness in storing  and distributing food,” said Tami Cardenas, Director of Development for Second Harvest Food Bank. “In this way we will help strengthen the food safety net in San Mateo County.”

Immediate and long-term outcomes of this grant include: increasing the number of people served by these 12 pantries by an average of 5%, to 10,874 people annually; and increasing the amount of produce and perishable food available at these 12 pantries by an average of 10%, to 159,322 pounds annually.

“We are grateful to United Way for their support,” said Cardenas. “We rely on our pipeline of partner agencies to help us distribute food to people in need in our community.”

Second Harvest Food Bank is the primary source of donated, surplus, and purchased food for nonprofit agencies in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.  Food pantries partners receive an average of 83% of the food they distribute to clients from Second Harvest.  The Food Bank is committed to providing ongoing infrastructure and capacity support to the Emergency Food Network in order to efficiently alleviate local hunger.

(photo via flickr user storem)

Volunteer with 2-1-1 Today!

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FedEx workers learning to answer 2-1-1 calls during a disaster as part of FedEx Cares Week

For hundreds of thousands of callers each year, 211 is a vital lifeline connecting them to important services like food, housing and health care.  Now you can learn more about how this service works, and help people in the process.  We are  currently recruiting volunteers to help us continue to expand the reach of the program and help thousands more callers in need.

There are three ways you can get involved:

  • Call Center Volunteer – Work alongside our Call Center Staff to provide a live voice for callers and be the link to the essential resources in our community.  Approximate time commitment: 4 hours a week.
  • Resource Specialist Volunteer – Contribute your research skills to help our 211 team maintain the most up-to-date database of community services.  This enables our call center staff to provide callers with accurate information.  Approximate time commitment: 4 hours a week.
  • Community Outreach Volunteer – Be an advocate by representing 211 at community events and/or present to community groups about how 211 helps in our community. Disperse vital information to connect Bay Area residents to the local resources they need. Approximate time commitment: 8 hours per month with 8 hours initial training.

To volunteer, leave a comment, or contact Aditi Aggarwal 415 808 4407 aagarwal@uwba.org.  And please, pass this along  to anyone you think might be interested.  Remember you can always find about the latest volunteer opportunities as they happen, by following us on twitter, or ‘like’ us on Facebook.