Service to the community is one of the key pillars of the Ebby Halliday Companies. Ebby Halliday herself led by example, as she lived by the mantra “Do Something for Someone Every Day.” Halliday, or Miss Ebby, as she was known to all, was always helping others, whether those who worked with or for her, or those in the communities where her company had expanded.
Nothing showcases the company-wide commitment to continue her legacy better than two recent holiday drives. One raised $33,000 for the North Texas Food Bank and Tarrant Area Food Bank at Thanksgiving, and one provided multiple gifts for each of the 300 Salvation Army Angels who attend Ebby Halliday Elementary School in southeast Dallas.
A Tradition Is Born
Last year in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, shutdowns and layoffs created food insecurity for many North Texas neighbors. So agents and employees of Ebby Halliday Realtors, Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate and Williams Trew rallied their networks to collect $75,000 for the two largest area organizations providing hunger relief. Supplemented by a matching gift offer from the Ebby Halliday Foundation, they were able to donate more than $110,000 during the holidays, which roughly translated to 330,000 meals.
“It was a surprisingly good year in real estate,” said Carolyn Rosson, VP of Brokerage for the Ebby Halliday Companies. “Our agents are incredibly generous whenever we call on them. And it was such a success, we knew we wanted to make it an annual tradition.”
So in October, the company began rallying the troops for the 2021 Thanksgiving food bank fundraiser.
Said VP of Brokerage Malinda Howell, “We had held a company-wide backpack drive in September, collecting more than 600 supply-filled backpacks for Ebby Halliday Elementary students. Even on the heels of that, we were able to tap into that Ebby spirit once again for both the food bank fundraiser and the Angel Tree effort.”
The food bank drive is technically not over, so anyone who would like to make a donation can still visit North Texas Food Bank or the Tarrant Area Food Bank, at bit.ly/EHCServesNTFB or bit.ly/EHCServesTAFB respectively, through Dec. 31.
