Speaker: Melissa Bjerke Markgraf
What is the Good Neighbor Award?
Melissa Bjerke Markgraf: I'm Melissa Bjerke Markgraf, your 2023 RASCW President, and I'm Carla Nowka, and I chair the RASCW Networking Committee. And we're here today to talk about the Good Neighbor Award. So Melissa, NAR created the Good Neighbor Award in 2000, and two years ago RASCW created a local program. And the whole intent behind this is to recognize our Realtor® members who volunteer within the communities that they live and work. How many recipients were there this year? For this year, we had five recipients and we had a grand total of $15,000 to share amongst those recipients, which was amazing. Congratulations to all the award recipients.
Let's meet one of the recipients!
Julie Klemm: Hi, my name is Julie Spencer-Klemm and I am a Realtor® with Bunbury & Associates Realtors® in Baraboo Wisconsin.
What's your organization?
Julie Klemm: I am a proud team member of SJS Cancer Support Team. We started out as a Relay For Life team and found out how much money stays local, which is very, very little, if any, so we broke away from that and decided to form our own team and fundraiser. So what we do, we have a few
Julie Klemm: So we do several different events throughout the year, but our big event is the SJS Scottish Doubles Bowling event and Cork Pull. And I am in charge of the Cork Pull.
Julie Klemm: We have hundreds of people that come out to our event. It's so much fun. We have so many generous people in our community. We give away, we usually raise about $50,000 that day and we give away money to all the hospice houses that are located within Sauk County or serve Sauk County, we give money to the hospitals that serve Sauk County, and then we give money to local families affected by cancer. So far this year, I believe we are at $6,000 that we've given away to local families that have been affected by cancer, and it's only March.
What motivated you to get involved?
Julie Klemm: Sadly, my dad passed away in 2006 from esophageal cancer, and he also had prostate cancer at the time. So that prompted us to start our Relay For Life team, which then led to us starting our SJS Cancer Support Team, and it has just grown exponentially every year.
What does receiving the Good Neighbor Award mean to you?
Julie Klemm: I was absolutely shocked and thrilled to receive the Good Neighbor Award. And I think it's, I feel like it really just put SJS Cancer Support Team on the map for us. I think we were a local organization that people didn't know a whole lot about, and now through this award, people know about us. We, we are, our mission is out there.
How can others get more involved in their communities?
Julie Klemm: There are so many organizations out there that need help. Find that one that is your passion that makes your heart feel good and stick to it. And I'm one that if I can't get involved 110% I'm not gonna do it. So SJS has my heart and it's very important to me, and I see the difference that we're making in people's lives. So that makes me want to get involved even more in any way that I can. I will never say no to anything for SJS Cancer Support Team because we are making a difference.
