Linda Neely and Rob Dutcher take a break from moving Linda to her knew home on Aug. 26.
A Beaver County woman received a generous housewarming gift last Friday when her real estate agent rented a truck and moved all of her belongings to her new home. Linda Neely, of New Brighton, worked with Aliquippa-native Rob Dutcher, of RE/MAX Select Realty, to close on her house on Aug. 26. After mentioning that her moving resources were limited, Neely was shocked when Dutcher offered to move everything for her.
“Before I knew it, I was signing papers,” Neely said. “I asked [Rob], ‘how am I going to move all of my stuff?’ He told me not to worry about that. He had it covered. I didn’t realize he was actually going to move everything for me. I was like, ‘is this guy for real?'”
Neely, a military widow, reached out to Dutcher in April when she saw that her dream home had hit the open market. After the 120-plus day closing process, Neely became a homeowner for the first time. Though, after two back surgeries resulting from a 1997 car accident, her ability to climb steps and lift heavy objects diminished. Furthermore, in November 2012, Neely’s husband of 22 years, Vietnam veteran Jon Neely, passed away from Agent-Orange-related cancer after a failed stem cell transplant. With no one else available to assist in the move, Dutcher took charge, and recruited other volunteers with his personal Facebook page.
“I put a post on Facebook, got some really generous guys to respond, then we went ahead and did it,” Dutcher explained. “As it turns out, my buddy’s father and her husband were in Vietnam together, and they both died as a result of exposure to Agent Orange. I talked to [my buddy] quite a bit, and he helped out with the truck and everything. She’s an older woman, she needed some help, and it didn’t seem like she had any support anywhere. I figured ‘why not, I’m fully capable.'”
Rob Dutcher and several volunteers he gathered by using Facebook moved Linda Neely from Beaver to New Brighton on Aug. 26.
A fresh start in the perfect home
When Neely’s husband passed away, she found herself in a strange and unfamiliar situation. Save her granddaughter staying over a few times a week, she was alone for the first time in over two decades in a home she deemed too difficult to navigate, given her medical history. By coincidence, a house that she loved and spent time in several years prior went up for sale, and Dutcher’s name was on the sign.
“It was tough,” Neely said. “I couldn’t do the steps anymore. My son said, ‘that house is too big for you, why don’t you sell it and move.’ So, one day, [I] saw the [new] house. My neighbor came down and we looked at it. I’d been in the house ’cause I knew the guy that owned it before…I grew up with him. And, he’d taken me through the house before he sold it to the previous owner, and I said, ‘oh, I would love this room for my granddaughter.'”
When Dutcher met with her for the first time, he noticed something special during their tour of the home. Though Neely and the house were a perfect match, the buying process proved more difficult than she and Dutcher had imagined.
“She came to this house (and) she fell in love with it,” Dutcher said. “She knew the person who lived here prior to the owner right now. So, there was a background there. I really got to know her in the process…it took about 120-some days to close. There was a big problem with the appraisal [and] they had to start the whole mortgage over. So, I got to know Linda very well. She just needed some support.”
After four-plus months of back-and-forth with the lender, Dutcher helped Neely get the keys to her new home.
“On Aug. 13, they called and said, ‘you got it!'” Neely added. “[Rob] is just a great guy. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay him. It’s great.”
As to why Dutcher put so much effort into Neely’s move, he added:
Several employees and associates from RE/MAX Select Realty’s Center Township office gathered at Center for Hope in Ambridge last Thursday to support community members in need. Nearly 20 people arrived at the center, located at 740 Park Rd., at 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 5, and spent the next two-plus hours preparing and serving nutritious meals from Shop-and-Save to approximately 150 food insecure people.
Center for Hope, a multi-denominational faith-based charity, provides services for the low-income population of Ambridge. With a multitude of programs, ranging from pre-employment classes for adults to Home Store — which helps families stock or replace basic household items — the center’s mission is to help its “neighbors in need to break the bonds of poverty and lead independent lives.” One initiative in particular, the Young Entrepreneur Program, caught the attention of Sales Director Joann Gennaro. She volunteered at a Shark Tank event in October 2015, and it fueled her altruistic passion to provide support within the community.
“There was a program called ‘Barracuda Tank,’ which is similar to ‘Shark Tank,'” Gennaro explained. “Children were presenting their business ideas, then collecting money from the investors. They’d take that money, open bank accounts, and develop business plans. I thought, ‘this is great,’ because it’s important for these kids to have good business sense, and to know how to open bank accounts. One girl, in particular, was saving her money to buy her mom a new car. The car that her family used had to be over 30-years-old. That’s where it started for me. I wanted to know how [RSR] could help.”
Coincidentally, Gennaro’s co-worker and fellow real estate associate Kim Hostetter attended the same event. After learning that Hostetter’s mother, Sue Otto, served as the director of Center for Hope, Gennaro found a way for RSR to get involved.
“[Joann] had mentioned that she wanted to see what we could do to help,” Hostetter said. “So, I talked to my mom, and she said to see if [RE/MAX Select Realty] would do a community dinner. Joann said that was great, and the owners were generous enough to fund it. These people don’t get nice meals very often, so it’s really a treat for them.”
Otto, who started working with Center for Hope in 2007, was given an ultimatum – build the center up, or close it down. By 2010, the organization had provided services over 26,000 times by way of food and clothing distribution. While she dedicates her focus to philanthropy on a full-time basis, Otto is still amazed at the support the center receives from outside companies in other industries, such as RE/MAX Select Realty, that volunteer their resources to support the center’s mission.
“It’s interesting to watch,” Otto said. “Sometimes a community like this can feel forgotten, so when a successful company like RE/MAX [Select Realty] shows that it cares, it’s really special. It goes beyond just giving food, and that’s evident when you [hear from] the children. After the meal, one child walked up said, ‘you could be home with your families right now, but you chose to be with us.’ They are so appreciative. What better feeling is there than to help feed someone?”
According to Gennaro, this event was the first of many to come for RE/MAX Select Realty, in regards to volunteer efforts. Her goal is to host monthly volunteer events, and include each of the other seven offices, as well as RSR’s ancillary closing company, KEYMAX Settlement Services.
“This is where I want this company to go,” Gennaro added. “We are so fortunate to work in a business like this…one that allows us to give back.”
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In addition to its associates’ and offices’ individual endeavors, RSR, as a company, collects donations from each real estate transaction and hosts annual golf outings that support local charities in the greater Pittsburgh area. To learn more about Center for Hope, or to get involved, visit its website at TheCenterForHope.com.
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