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For Immediate Release: NEW JERSEY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® PRESENTS GOOD NEIGHBOR AWARDSThree REALTORS® Honored for Outstanding Community Service Endeavors(Atlantic City, NJ) - The New Jersey Association of REALTORS® (NJAR®) presented three of its members with NJAR® Good Neighbor Awards during an awards session at the Triple Play REALTOR® Convention and Trade Expo in Atlantic City today. The awards recognize individuals whose volunteer efforts have made outstanding contributions to their communities. "The NJAR® Good Neighbors truly deserve recognition for the time and effort they give to others," said NJAR President Bill Hanley. "Thanks to the generosity of this year's sponsors, we are able to provide donations on behalf of each winner to the charities that benefit from their extraordinary commitment." The premiere sponsor of the 2007 NJAR® Good Neighbor Award is Family Building Inspectors. Additional sponsors are American Mortgage Source, Certified Tank Testing and PSEG. A donation in the amount of: $2,500 for first place; $1,500 for second place; and $1,000 for third place will be made to the winners' charitable organizations. The 2007 NJAR® Good Neighbors are as follows: FIRST PLACE Ruth Estwick of Century 21 Villon Realty in Hackensack, N.J., founded the Earl L. Estwick, Sr. Trailblazer Memorial Fund, Inc. in 1994 to perpetuate the vision of her husband, who had planned to work with the youth in his community upon retirement. Before realizing his dream Earl Sr. became ill and passed away. The Memorial Fund gives scholarships to college-bound high school seniors, who can prove a financial need, with a minimum SAT score of 1575 and an average of B plus or higher. Since 1994, the Fund has awarded 53 scholarships. As the founder and managing director, Estwick is in charge of fund-raising and searching for qualified students. In her non-salaried position, Estwick spends at least 25 hours per week working with the Fund. SECOND PLACE Owner of JJ Elek Realty Company in
Woodbridge, N.J., James Elek has been a
volunteer member of the Raritan Bay Medical
Center Foundation's Board of Directors for
the last five years. He serves on several of
the Foundation's committees and helped raise
nearly $50,000 in donations for the
Children's Fund at Raritan Bay during the
annual ball in 2006. Elek recently made a
personal contribution that allowed the
Foundation to purchase a new Mobile
Intensive Care Unit vehicle. The vehicle was
placed into service in January 2007 and is
used to provide basic first aid or
life-saving measures to stabilize patients
before transporting them to Raritan Bay. Linda Lee Sokerka of Coldwell Banker in Butler, N.J., along with her husband, Richard, serves as the coordinator of the Ministry to Homeless Families of St. Anthony's Parish in Butler, N.J. The couple works in conjunction with Interfaith Council for Homeless Families of Morris County, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the crisis of homelessness. For each of the past 10 years, Sokerka has given three weeks of her time to coordinating a shelter within the Parish Center where families can find a room to sleep in, a fresh-cooked meal and someone to listen to them and help get them back on their feet. In the last 10 years approximately 530 people have been helped by the shelter. Profiles of the winners will be featured on www.njar.com. The New Jersey Association of REALTORS® is a non-profit organization serving the professional needs of approximately 55,000 REALTOR® and REALTOR-ASSOCIATE® members in the state. REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark which may be used only by real estate professionals who subscribe to the REALTOR® organization's strict Code of Ethics and are members of the national, state and local REALTOR® organizations. For more information, please visit www.njar.com. # # #
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