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Member of the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) presented three grants this week, which will help children and, hopefully, make their holiday season brighter.
At the Menlo Park/Atherton District meeting on Monday, the Silicon Valley REALTORS® Charitable Foundation Trust presented $2,500 to the Westwind 4-H Riding Program for the Handicapped. Silicon Valley REALTORS® Charitable Foundation President Lisa Keith presented the grant to Judy Lookabill, board member of the Westwind Riding Institute.
Westwind 4-H Riding for the Handicapped has been providing horseback riding instruction for children with physical handicaps since 1978. Westwind Community Barn in Los Altos Hills is the home base of the Westwind 4-H riding program.
- Silicon Valley REALTORS® Charitable Foundation President Lisa Keith and Judy Lookabill, board member of the Westwind Riding Institute, hold the big check.
Lookabill thanked SILVAR members for the donation and continued support of the 4-H program. She said the benefits of horse riding are both psychological and physiological. The program builds confidence and self-esteem; develops coordination and balance; and is one of the few recreational activities, other than swimming, that is truly physically therapeutic, since it requires the involvement of the whole body and utilizes every muscle and joint.
On Wednesday, SILVAR’s Los Gatos/Saratoga District presented a check for $3,990 to EMQ FamiliesFirst in Los Gatos. The donation came from proceeds from the district’s annual pumpkin auction. Los Gatos/Saratoga District Chair Bill Rehbock presented the check to Bettina Kohlbrenner, executive director for fund development for the agency.
Los Gatos/Saratoga District Chair Bill Rehbock is pictured here with Bettina Kohlbrenner, executive director for fund development for the agency.
EMQ (Eastfield Ming Quong) FamiliesFirst helps children in crisis and their families. The agency provides shelter and care to children who are displaced and whose families are unable to care for them, so that they can recover from trauma, abuse and addiction, and rebuild their lives. Kohlbrenner said the agency currently cares for 40 children in the area. She thanked the district for its generous donation.
“Your donation will help make the holidays brighter for these children,” Kohlbrenner told SILVAR members.
At the Thursday Cupertino/Sunnyvale District tour meeting, the Silicon Valley REALTORS® Charitable Foundation presented a check for $1,250 to Child Advocates of Santa Clara and San Mateo. Charitable Foundation trustee Carolyn Miller presented the check to Kathy Williams, CASA board director.
Child Advocates of Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties trains and supports Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers to work one-on-one with abused and neglected children. A CASA volunteer speaks up for a child’s best interests, helping to ensure that he or she will live in a safe and loving environment and has the resources needed to grow up healthy and strong. Williams said the child advocates are “like big brothers and big sisters with teeth,” who serve as champions of the children and look out for their best interest.
Charitable Foundation trustee Carolyn Miller and Kathy Williams, CASA board director, hold the big check.
The Foundation’s grant will help underwrite the cost of recruiting, training and supervising additional volunteer advocates for the over 200 children currently on their list. Williams thanked SILVAR for the donation and noted it comes at a good time, and will provide great help for the children during the holidays.
Child Advocates of Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties trains and supports Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers to work one-on-one with abused and neglected children. A CASA volunteer speaks up for a child’s best interests, helping to ensure that he or she will live in a safe and loving environment and has the resources needed to grow up healthy and strong. Williams said the child advocates are “like big brothers and big sisters with teeth,” who serve as champions of the children and look out for their best interest.
The Foundation’s grant will help underwrite the cost of recruiting, training and supervising additional volunteer advocates for the over 200 children currently on their list. Williams thanked SILVAR for the donation and noted it comes at a good time, and will provide great help for the children during the holidays.
Also, in late November, SILVAR members of the Palo Alto District celebrated the district’s annual Partners in Education(PiE) Campaign and presented a check for $30,740 to the PiE Foundation and Palo Alto Unified School District.
Palo Alto Partners in Education is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to supporting Palo Alto public elementary, middle and high schools by raising money to meet classroom needs otherwise left unfunded. PiE funds support programs in art, home to school translations, math and science.
Palo Alto District PiE Campaign Chair Desiree Docktor is pictured here with PAUSD Superintendent Kevin Skelly.
Thank you to all SILVAR members who generously contribute to the Charitable Foundation and district fundraisers that help individuals and families in need in communities where members live and work!
The National Association of REALTORS® is asking REALTORS® to contact their members of Congress to warn them about the dangers to the housing market and the economy of reducing or eliminating the mortgage interest deduction and making other tax changes that could hurt home owners. REALTORS® should have received the Call for Action on Wednesday night. Its launch came just hours after the co-chairs of President Obama’s bipartisan Federal Deficit Reduction Commission, charged with the task of finding ways to balance the budget by 2015 and to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion by 2020, released their recommendations in a draft report titled “The Moment of Truth.”
The plan called for significant reductions to the mortgage interest deduction and other major tax reforms. The panel recommended converting the deduction to a 12 percent non-refundable tax credit available to all taxpayers, capped at $500,000, and limited to principal residences only (no credit for interest from second residence and equity). The panel also recommended the elimination of itemized deductions and the taxation of capital gains as ordinary income.
The deficit commission voted on the plan today, and while it received a majority 11-7 vote, it fell short of the super-majority needed (a vote of at least 14 of its 18 members) to prompt immediate congressional action. Regardless of the outcome of today’s vote, it is imperative REALTORS® make their voices heard now because individual recommendations like cuts to the MID and other programs impacting home ownership could be included in federal budget legislation in early 2011.
The tax deductibility of interest paid on mortgages is a powerful incentive for home ownership and has been one of the simplest provisions in the federal tax code for more than 80 years. In a new survey commissioned by NAR and conducted online in October 2010 by Harris Interactive of nearly 3,000 homeowners and renters, nearly three-fourths of homeowners and two-thirds of renters said the mortgage interest deduction was extremely or very important to them.
Recent progress has been made in bringing stability to the housing market and any changes to the MID now or in the future could critically erode home prices and the value of homes by as much as 15 percent, according to NAR’s research. This would negatively impact home ownership for millions of Americans, including those who own their homes outright and have no mortgage.
Any further downward pressure on home prices will hamper economic recovery, raise foreclosures and hurt banks’ abilities to lend and likely tip the economy into another recession, resulting in further job losses for the country. It will effectively close the door on the American dream.
REALTORS® must remain vigilant in opposing any plan that modifies or repeals the mortgage interest deduction. Please answer NAR’s Call for Action now and let your representatives know that the Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID) is vital to both home ownership and our economy.
Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® says ... 