Kicking for a Cause with Bridges to Independence
On a hot August Saturday, 15 CRC CARES members participated in the Bridges to Independence (b2i) Safe at Home Kickball Tournament, which raises money for homeless families and those at risk of becoming homeless
The 12th annual tournament took place on Saturday, August 5 at Crystal City’s Long Bridge Park in Arlington, Virginia. Our team hit the fields at 8:30 am for the opening ceremony, followed by game play beginning at 9:00 am.
Competing against teams fielded by Paradigm, E-Trade, and many others, the CRC CARES team ultimately played several hours of kickball, ultimately losing in the semi-finals.
This is the third year CRC CARES has participated in the event, and the new b2i headquarters will be located in a retail bay at CRC’s newest project, Ten at Clarendon.
Bridges to Independence (b2i) is Northern Virginia’s leading provider of services for homeless women, families, and those at risk. They offer a continuum of aid and support for all family members, helping them attain stability and move forward into self-sufficiency. They also prioritize prevention by reaching out to at-risk families and help them avoid homelessness in the first place. A private, non-profit organization, b2i has been working with and for homeless families since 1985.
Building Up Community Green Spaces with City Blossoms DC
Our members understand how spaces can shape experiences and transform lives. That is why CRC CARES partnered with City Blossoms DC to improve their Girard Street Park community green space.
Though eager neighborhood children complete most of the garden’s upkeep, some jobs predictably go undone (weeding)! So on June 23, 17 members of CRC CARES volunteered to weed the vegetable garden, cut vines in flower beds, and paint new bilingual signs. As our team worked, school children played in the surrounding park, and some even joined us in painting stakes for the herb garden.
The Girard Children's Community Garden in Columbia Heights is filled with different fruits and vegetables, from garlic cloves and grapes to two apple trees named Romeo and Juliet. The back of the garden is dedicated to a variety of herbs, while beautiful flowers line the gates to attract bees to pollinate. City Blossoms DC sells the harvest in a community market, reinvesting the proceeds into the garden to create more nature-based opportunities for the children who help it succeed.
City Blossoms is a non-profit dedicated to providing spaces like the community garden in Girard Street Park for children to work and play. Serving in neighborhoods in which children may not otherwise have access to green space, City Blossoms provides bilingual, free, and affordable after-school, in-school, and summer programming to predominately Latino and African-American youth from toddlers to teens. Though based in Washington, DC, City Blossoms has worked on over 50 sites nationwide.
2017 JDRF Real Estate Games Recap
On Thursday, June 1, CRC CARES members participated in the JDRF Real Estate games at American University in Washington, DC. The members competed in games and activities of all kinds to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). With the help of CRC CARES and other participants, this year’s JDRF Real Estate Games raised a record-breaking $525,000 for Type 1 Diabetes research.
The team participated in a wide array of events with other real estate professionals from around the Washington, DC area. Traditional sporting events included volleyball, tennis, and swimming, where CARES member Oliver Lee took home second place in both of his individual races. Unconventional activities like the outdoor relay where competitors wore a Viking helmet and a poncho while dodging water balloons, or the bouncy ball relay where CARES members Casey Nolan and Eric Shullman truly put their skills to the test, rounded out the day’s events.
For its 28th year, a new installation at the event – a series of signs showing local children who have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes – reminded participants why the JDRF games are so important.
Adam Singer and Rick Kimball founded the JDRF Real Estate Games in 1989 and hosted the first annual event in 1990. The inaugural event gained support from 23 real estate brokerage and development firms, 200 participants, and 38 volunteers to raise $28,000 for type 1 diabetes research. Twenty-eight years later, the event has grown exponentially with the support of over 130 companies, 2,500 participants, and 200 volunteers raising more than $500,000 annually. Since its establishment, the JDRF Real Estate Games has raised more than $6 million for type 1 diabetes research.