RE/MAX Australia: Making Wishes Come True

January 2016

RE/MAX Australia entered its fourth contract year with Make-A-Wish Australia on August 1, 2015 and, by the end of November, raised $26,000 for the organization. This year, it hopes to give even more.

Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children and young adults with life-threatening medial conditions. It currently grants about 500 wishes a year, but a 2,000 target is more realistic if every affected child and teenager in Australia is to be reached.

RE/MAX Australia committed to Make-A-Wish in 2012, pledging $20,000 annually. RE/MAX Australia has exceeded that giving goal every year since. The next goal? Surpassing the $100,000 mark in overall giving.

Here are a few of the past few months’ fund-raiser highlights:

• At July’s RE/MAX Rally, members met Jacqui Cowen, a 19-year-old who had been diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkinson’s Lymphoma when she was 12. Jacqui, a wish recipient and now a Make-A-Wish Australia Ambassador, accepted RE/MAX Australia’s $41,970 cheque on behalf of the organization.

• In an awesome Friday lunchtime effort, one office alone, RE/MAX Advantage, raised more than $5,000 in one hour of an August charity auction and raffle.

• In August, RE/MAX Platinum held a Fairies and Pirates’ Treasure Hunt fund-raiser, which invited children up to 16 years in age to hunt for more than 200 hidden scrolls, each representing a hidden treasure. The event fulfilled Broker/Owner Leanne Kroes’ promise to Make-A-Wish Australia that she would help grant a wish in her office’s first year of business.

• In October, more than 60 attendees dressed for the occasion and headed to the Brisbane Jazz Club for a 2015 Spring Fashion Show fund-raiser.

• Several wishes were fulfilled through generosity seen at RE/MAX Profile Real Estate’s inaugural ‘Wish Upon a Star’ charity ball in September. The event raised nearly $8,000 and is now planned as an annual fundraiser.

• In October, RE/MAX Australia held its second annual Charity Golf Day on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

• In December, RE/MAX Australia donated $50 to Make-A-Wish on behalf of every RE/MAX office in lieu of giving gifts to its Broker/Owners and teams.