Susan Jones (left) drops off this year’s collected donations.
When the holiday season approaches, Windermere Real Estate agents Kitty Ballard and Susan Jones team up to gather donations for Attain Housing families. They’ve been doing so for over 20 years now. It was an effort born out of friendship and a shared desire to help out families in need.
“I was thinking about things I was thankful for at the holiday season and just felt strongly I needed to do something to make a direct impact on peoples lives,” Susan Jones said. “I wrote my first letter to my client base of over 250 people, asking them to contribute to Thanksgiving meals for the people helped by KITH/Attain. Initially, I actually hired a truck, bought all of the premade dinners from QFC and hauled them to the KITH office about two days before Thanksgiving. The recipients lined up down the street as I unloaded the meals.”
While being a very fulfilling effort, Susan decided after a few years to donate the money to Attain and let the organization provide the meals and gift cards to client families as they best saw fit.
Kitty Ballard
“A few years into my Thanksgiving dinners, Kitty heard about it and wanted to join in.” Susan said. “She has consistently supported the effort for all these years. We just love knowing that someone is getting a good meal at the holidays!”
Both Susan and Kitty got involved with KITH/Attain through volunteering on service projects at our housing properties.
“I first got involved in the KITH days in the mid-90’s when we did a yard clean up project at Petter Court,” Kitty said. “My husband was already working in real estate with Windermere, I joined in later.”
Susan’s introduction was also through Windermere’s Day of Service.
“I believe we did painting and landscaping at several of Attain’s housing properties,” Susan said. “I just really loved the people I was introduced to and it was a time in my life that I was looking for a cause to support. Ultimately, I joined the board for a few years.”
Together, they’ve been able to raise about $5,000 each year to donate to the Attain Housing Holiday Program.
Ballard said most of her clients are really happy to find out how Attain Housing helps families in transitioning from homelessness to stable, permanent housing.
“They are happy to help by sending a check,” Kitty said. “It’s an easy way to help others and lots of folks have been getting my letters for years and are ready to send a check every year.”
We at Attain Housing are honored to have such loyal and strong supporters in Susan and Kitty and we truly
appreciate their advocacy for Attain Housing over the years.