Victoria REALTORS Care® and help complete renovation of downtown community centre

This year the Victoria Real Estate Board Community Relations Committee donated $10,000 on behalf of Victoria REALTORS® to HeroWork, in support of their radical renovation of a local community centre – the Cool Aid Downtown Community Centre (DCC). The committee also recruited Realtor volunteers to spend a day in November working on the renovation, the grand opening of which occurred November 12.

“The volunteer day with HeroWork was a great experience for our VREB Realtor team. HeroWork is run by true professionals and our group was oriented and quickly put to work painting, cleaning and helping with finishing work on the DCC project,” said VREB Director and Community Relations Committee Chair Fergus Kyne. “Our group was proud to serve on behalf of Victoria Realtors - the work HeroWork is doing in our community is so worthwhile. HeroWork allows the charities it partners with to focus on delivering core services while the HeroWork team ensures that the organization’s buildings and infrastructure are safe and comfortable. The work they do benefits the entire community.”

HeroWork is an innovative organization that harnesses the power of community to uplift essential charitable agencies. They inspire, engage and organize community members to donate their time, resources and spirit to charities that need better buildings to deliver services to the vulnerable. When charities partner with HeroWork, the result is increased engagement of the community, increased awareness of the recipient charity and the development of leadership and volunteer capacity that ripples out to touch other parts of society.

“We are thrilled to be wrapping up our Radical Renovation at Victoria Cool Aid Society’s Downtown Community Centre,” shares Trevor Botkin, General Manager of HeroWork Victoria. “As we near the end, we’re reflecting proudly on the fact that DCC staff will now be able to double their services and triple their programming in a space that is more efficient and beautiful. The outdated DCC served approximately 6,000 people each year. HeroWork's completed Radical Renovation will allow Cool Aid Society to double the DCC's capacity and they will now be able to reach 12,000 people from vulnerable communities annually!”

HeroWork is still collecting donations for their Cool Aid Downtown Community Centre renovation – more information can be found at almostdoneanddusted.com.

[o] courtesy of HeroWork and Kash Burley