Great KW RED Day Article from Houston Chronicle

More than 30 volunteers in red shirts and dirt-caked gloves toiled through the morning and into the afternoon May 11, pushing wheelbarrows of soil and toting potted plants across a yard in Crosby.

Keller Williams Northeast serves the Kingwood, Humble, Atascocita and Lake Houston areas. Every year, its office participates in the company-wide Renewing, Energizing and Donating (RED) Day volunteering initiative in which Keller Williams offices worldwide find ways to give back to their communities.

This year, Keller Williams Northeast sought a cause that would somehow benefit a veteran.

It just so happened that Keller Williams associate Ashleigh Morris‘ grandfather is a veteran of the United States Army, and he and his wife were in need of assistance.

In addition to being a retired veteran, Wayne Scrivner is a skin cancer survivor. His wife, Jo, also is a cancer survivor, currently going through radiation therapy due to breast cancer.

 “We were talking about doing something for a veteran and felt we need to do a family project,” said Diane Bowdoin, Keller Williams Northeast Culture Committee co-chair. “(Ashleigh) said, ‘My grandfather is a veteran and they both have hardships from battling cancer.’ So, we’re here to help them out.”

Among Jo Scrivner’s passions are raising parrots and gardening.

“We’ve been so busy with my cancer since October,” Jo Scrivner said. “We had to go to chemo out in Spring all the time. Now, the radiation. I was lucky that they let me have radiation in Humble, but it’s every day for six weeks. It seems like we’re on the road all the time. When we get back, we’re so tired.”

 Without the energy necessary to keep up her garden, trees and flowerbeds, yardwork became an increasingly more daunting task.

“I love gardening, but I would look at it and it was just overwhelming,” Jo Scrivner said. “The weeds had taken over.”

Thanks to the hard work of the Keller Williams volunteers, the Scrivner’s property received a makeover. The vegetable and herb garden was tilled, weeded and replanted, trees were pruned, flowerbeds were preened and a recently felled tree was chopped into neatly stacked firewood.

“It was crushing her spirit because gardening is what she loved doing,” Bowdoin said. “So, we wanted to make it easier for them to upkeep their garden, so they won’t have to put in as much labor.”

The Scrivners were amazed at the volunteers’ efforts and overcome with gratitude.

“I just could not believe how many people were here,” Jo Scrivner said. “It’s wonderful that people are willing to do this. That’s hard work. I can’t believe how lucky we are. Now we’ll really be able to enjoy the back yard.”

This year, the RED Day spirit of giving extended beyond the Keller Williams Northeast associates as other local businesses and neighbors jumped on board with the cause, donating supplies, funds and refreshments.

“I’m getting to a point where I’m going to cry,” Morris said. “I just can’t believe there are so many people who are donating time and resources. Some of them aren’t even people we know. That’s what I think is so amazing.”

For Bowdoin, the culture of giving back is what drew her to Keller Williams.

“It’s neat that RED Day’s going on all over the world,” Bowdoin said. “The spirit of giving, caring and sharing is just interwoven into all of our activities we do, whether we’re helping other agents, or helping our customers, or working on something in the community. It’s sort of what defines our culture.”

For more information, visit www.kwnortheasthouston.com.