Windermere Property Management | Willamette Valley Real State | Realty (1)

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CREATING CARING CONNECTIONS
MARY ANN VANDERGRIFF
with
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When people in the West Seattle community are in
need, theyve learned they can turn to Windermere
broker Mary Ann Vandergriff. After a company
backed out of providing turkeys for 40 elementary
school families the Tuesday before Thanksgiving,
the schools family support worker called
Vandergriff in a panic. Just a few phone
calls later, the big-hearted broker had rounded
up 40 vouchers for 20-pound turkeys.
I HAVE ALL THIS STUFF IN MY HEAD THINGS
THAT COME TO ME, SHE SAYS. I LOVE A CHALLENGE
GIVE ME A COMPLICATED PUZZLE.
Volunteering was a big part of Vandergriff s
childhood, so it was only natural that she got
involved with the Windermere Foundation soon
after joining the company in the early 1990s. As
a single mom of two, Vandergriff was especially
drawn to the mission of the Windermere
Foundation, which collects a portion of the
proceeds from homes bought or sold through
Windermere to donate to projects that benefit
low-income and homeless families. Giving kids a
chance, thats the most important thing to me,
she says.
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As the Windermere Foundation representative for
the West Seattle office, Vandergriff has worked
with countless organizations over the years.
Early on, she jumped into spearheading
fundraising for Project Cool, a program from the
King County Coalition on Homelessness that
provides students with backpacks stuffed with
school supplies. More recently, her office has
supported the West Seattle Helpline, which
provides emergency assistance to neighbors in
need. Last year the team spent a service day
setting up Clothesline, West Seattle Helplines
free clothing store. We completely put that
store together, from laying carpet to organizing
clothes to organizing the hangers that were
donated, Vandergriff says. When you have 40 of
us brokers in a day, you can move mountains.
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Although it creates more administrative work, the
West Seattle office spreads its giving
budgetabout 25,000throughout the year so that
they always have some seed money on hand to
fulfill a need when asked. Theyve helped mothers
with breast cancer pay their bills while going
through treatment, outfitted children in new
winter coats, purchased appliances for a food
bank, provided computers for a school, and made
sure families had enough to eat during holiday
breaks. The list of organizations theyve helped
only grows over the years, and Vandergriff
wouldnt have it any other way.You help one
person at a time, she says. It may not be big,
it may be small, but even changing the life of
one or two children makes a difference.
Presentations are communication tools that can be
used as lectures.
By Haley Shapley Originally published in
Windermere Living
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