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New WABOR president encourages volunteerism

I am proud to have been elected as the 2017 President of the Warren Area Board of Realtors.

With this honor comes the responsibility of providing leadership to our membership during the next year. I will continue to build upon the efforts of 103 other presidents, who volunteered to establish a quality environment in which Realtors can serve our community.

This year, 2017, is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Warren Area Board of Realtors. We have made easy money and had hard times. We come from all walks of life and there is a treasure trove of diversity of thought and ideas in our area.

I am very proud of our Realtor community. We serve the public with grace and integrity, not just our clients, but we have many Realtors who serve on boards and committees that have nothing to do with real estate.

Our Realtors are deeply involved in community activities. There are Realtors who volunteer at Relay For Life, Junior Women’s League, Avenue and Main (a Niles community enhancement committee), St. Joseph Warren Hospital, Warren Homecoming, United Way, Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, the Trumbull County Land Bank, Warren Family Mission, Beatitude House and many more.

We, the Board Directors, also attend community events and fundraisers, as well as Regional Chamber events. Realtors do this because we love our communities and want to do our part to make them better.

Additionally, some of us volunteer our time at conferences for both the Ohio Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors. We do this to keep our members up to date on the latest legal and technical issues.

Albert Schweitzer, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952, said, “It is not enough to merely exist. It’s not enough to say, ‘I’m earning enough to live and support my family. I do my work well. I’m a good parent.’ That’s all very well. But you must do something more. Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every person has to seek in his own way to make his own self more noble and to realize his own true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it’s a little thing, do something for those who have need of a man’s help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. For, remember, you don’t live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here too.”

There are many things that one can gain from volunteering in our community. Martin Luther King Jr. advocated that “everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve … You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

What do you get from volunteering? Gain confidence. Make a difference. Meet people. Volunteering can help you meet different kinds of people and make new friends. Learn new skills. Take on a challenge. Have fun.

If you are too busy to breathe, step back, but if you have more than one pajama day a week I’m going to ask you to get involved. There is always room for more volunteers in whatever project you choose to get involved with.

Thank you to those who have volunteered to serve our community. On committees, fundraisers, work projects or the hundreds of groups that make our communities better. I appreciate your work and so do the many individuals that have been helped through volunteer organizations.

Fenstermaker is the 2017 president of the Warren Area Board of Realtors.

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