Tom Berndt, an agent affiliated with the Laguna Beach office of Coldwell Banker Realty, is hosting his 10th annual hat and glasses drive for Village Hope Core (VHC), an organization dedicated to fostering integrated social and economic development in rural communities, which will be giving the donated items to orphans and villagers in Mt. Kenya in Chogoria, Kenya. Community members are encouraged to drop off monetary donations as well as new or gently used baseball hats, sunglasses and reading glasses at the Laguna Beach or Dana Point/San Clemente/San Juan Capistrano offices of Coldwell Banker Realty during regular business hours from now until Monday, Feb. 15.
“Because of my personal use and reliance on reading glasses, I was inspired to start collecting reading glasses to donate to VHC about 10 years ago,” said Berndt. “This year we hope to be able to provide as many hats, sunglasses and reading glasses as possible, and we are offering our community the option to donate items at two offices or contact me directly for monetary donations. Please join us in helping this wonderful community of people.”
Thanks to Berndt’s fundraising in 2019, every child in the two orphanages in Mt. Kenya received a hat for the first time because they learned a lot of the kids were contracting cataracts due to lack of protection from the high altitude sun, and the majority of the children were also able to receive sunglasses. Because a pair of sunglasses is a status symbol, the adults had priority when it came to sunglasses and are the only ones to receive reading glasses. In some cases, VHC takes needy children to the doctor for prescription glasses.
Tom Berndt can be reached at 949-633-5100 or tomberndt@coldwellbanker.com. The Laguna Beach office is located at 31582 S Coast Hwy in Laguna Beach, Calif., and the Dana Point/San Clemente/San Juan Capistrano office is located at 27111 Camino De Estrella in Capistrano Beach, Calif. To learn more about the Village Hope Core, please visit www.villagehopecore.org.
Coldwell Banker Realty in Southern California, the No. 1 residential real estate brokerage in Southern California, operates 61 offices with approximately 4,189 affiliated agents. Real estate agents affiliated with the company are independent contractor agents and are not employees of the company. Coldwell Banker Realty is owned by a subsidiary of Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY), the largest full-service residential real estate services company in the United States. For more information, visit ColdwellBankerHomes.com. CalDRE #01908304.
