Google Global Site Tag:
ARTICLE
On Tuesday, September 27th, Stock Development Vice President of Sales & Marketing Claudine Leger-Wetzel was driving along I-75 to return to Naples post Hurricane Irma. After witnessing mile after mile of devastation, she telephoned CBIA executive director Kathy Curatolo to brainstorm how the local building association was prepared to help its members with immediate assistance to repair and replace damaged homes and businesses. Ms. Wetzel, a former Sales & Marketing Council committee chairperson and longtime CBIA member, recognized the Sand Dollar Awards fete was scheduled to take place just days away and believed the annual event to celebrate the industry’s awards in excellence was an ideal opportunity to help raise funds desperately needed to assist immediate construction and household needs for families that remained homeless as a result of Hurricane Irma’s damage and to assist not-for-profit organizations to repair building damage. That one phone call between the two leaders in the local construction industry, triggered more calls to other CBIA members asking for members to come together and donate to the CBIA Hurricane Irma Relief Fundraiser wherein donated funds would be managed and disseminated through the Community Foundation of Collier County “Collier Comes Together Disaster Relief Fund to Assist Hurricane Irma Victims” Collier County Communication Foundation’s Hurricane Irma Disaster Relief Fund. Within four days, the telephone call tree raised more than $75,000 until Ms. Wetzel took to the stage at the annual Sand Dollars Awards dinner held Saturday, Sept. 30 to a capacity, sold-out crowd of more than 470 and asked guests to dig deep and help raise more money to help those in immediate need. CBIA members ledged just under $150,000 in relief funds through a combination of personal phone calls and the live auction at the Sand Dollar Awards event. “The universal support of our construction and building industry to help each other in the community is how Collier County will recover and rebuild,” believes CBIA executive director Kathy Curatolo. “Relief funds will be disseminated through various non-for-profit organizations spearheading the recovery effort though the Community Foundation. For more information, contact CBIA at (239) 436-6100.