Event Coverage

Realtors Give Back to Their Communities through RSVP

Throughout this week, volunteers from SILVAR were busy at work in numerous homes around the association’s five districts. A sign the volunteers placed outside these homes and the t-shirts they donned displayed a blue and yellow logo that identified them as volunteers of the Realtor Service Volunteer Program (RSVP).

RSVP was started by SILVAR Realtors and officially adopted as SILVAR’s community outreach project in 2002. The program has expanded to include members of the San Mateo County Association of REALTORS®, the Fresno Association of REALTORS®, the Santa Clara County Association of REALTORS®, and this year, the Santa Cruz County Association of REALTORS®.

Every year in May, Realtors and affiliates take time from their busy work schedules to help seniors and the homebound with household tasks they cannot do on their own. These tasks include washing windows, installing smoke detector batteries, flipping mattresses, light vacuuming, dusting, replacing light bulbs, changing furnace filters, trimming bushes and installing house numbers.

A Los Gatos senior suffered a bad fall last summer and had to undergo partial hip surgery. While she takes pride in still being able to maintain her independence, she noted, “I can’t replace the furnace filter; I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

Valerie Brandt, Don Campagna and Bob Wilson were able to do that for her, as well as flip her mattress, replace her smoke detector batteries and clean her gutters.

“It’s so nice of them to do this and not expect anything in return. They are wonderful people,” the senior homeowner commented about the program and volunteers.

The Realtors are there to help seniors and not to promote their business. “Seniors need our help,” said Don Campagna. “I have a mom, so I know the drill. They could use our help. It’s a good thing for them.”

“Just providing them the company and having people visit is something they appreciate,” said Brandt, a longtime RSVP volunteer.

A senior homeowner from Sunnyvale lamented, “I used to do it all. Now, I can do little things, but not anything heavy or anything that needs modern education and is digital. And I’m not good on ladders. A lot more people need to know about this service.”

Cook was grateful Elaina Najeeb-Brush and Hak Kim were able to flip her mattress and replace her smoke detector batteries.

In Saratoga, the team of Dave Tonna, Tracy Webb and Tom Harris was busy at work washing windows in an Eichler home early this week. The homeowner said she has requested the service for the past two years and she especially appreciated the volunteers cleaning her windows.

“We are so lucky to live in this area. It’s an opportunity to give something back. We take a lot of these things for granted. I had grandparents and remember they needed help,” said Webb, a first-time RSVP volunteer.

Tonna, another longtime RSVP volunteer, has helped senior homeowners through the years with various tasks like cleaner gutters, flipping mattresses, and even installing a motorized recliner for an elderly man. “Our job is not all about the commission; it’s great to give back to our community,” he said.  

The group still had two more homes to visit that day, and both homeowners had requested volunteers to wash their windows. Tonna said, “At the end of the day, I know I’m going to be tired, but I’ll also feel gratified I was able to help people.”   

At the home of a Los Altos senior homeowner who is legally blind, Ki Nyborg prepared her flower bed, Diane Vernon trimmed some bushes, JoAnn Fishpaw washed the windows, and Gerry Lawrence repaired a hinge on her screen door.

The senior homeowner said she signs up for the service every year. “I don’t know what I would do without them,” she exclaimed.

Lawrence said he has volunteered for the RSVP program since it began seven years ago. “I like being busy and doing something with my hands, and I’m glad I can help others and give back to the community,” Lawrence said.

At a home in Mountain View, RSVP volunteers Yasemin Richardson, Alan Huwe, Fred Hibbert, Ric Parker and Ken Stuart were busy Wednesday morning digging up the soil so the senior homeowner could plant some flowers. Then they raked leaves and debris in the yard, cut ivy that was creeping into her property, and washed her windows.

The senior homeowner is a former kindergarten teacher and longtime resident of the area. She said, “It’s amazing that they do these things for us. When you get to be my age, it’s a challenge to get around and do yard work.”

Hibbert said the team worked in two more households that day, but he recalled the 80-year-old homeowner they had helped out that morning and said, “We put in the most elbow grease in her home, but we got the best feeling of accomplishment knowing it made a difference in this one person’s life.”

The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) is a professional trade organization representing over 4,000 REALTORS® and Affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. SILVAR promotes the highest ethical standards of real estate practice, serves as an advocate for homeownership and homeowners, and represents the interests of property owners in Silicon Valley.

The term "REALTOR®" is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.

For further information, please contact Rose Meily at SILVAR Public Affairs, e-mail , or phone (408) 200-0109.

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