Christina Patterson – She Knows How To Help People Smile

Christina Patterson joined Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners in the beginning of 2010, coming from another agency. After 22 years in dentistry, she changed her profession in 2005 to become a realtor. However, she knew she wanted to give back to the dental community.

Christina was just not sure how she would make that dream a reality. Then on a vacation at the Sea Horse Hotel in Jacksonville, Florida, she met the lady who cleaned their room – Sissy Bogert. Sissy had two children. When her sister passed away from brain cancer, she took in her three nieces as well. She is a hard working woman who always puts the needs of her family before her own. Her teeth were in terrible shape, but Sissy could not afford to do anything about it. That day Christina had found someone with a true need for a dental miracle.

After a lot of thought and prayer, Christina found Dr. Anthony Corral. Christina recalled “I was bold and just asked him if he could treat her for free due to her story, as she had no means to afford what she needed. Well, he agreed to do the work!”

From her experience, Christina formed Hero Dentist to help other people like Sissy. Christina commented “It is such a blessing to be such an instrument in helping others with the gifts that God has given me! It was equally amazing to see the enthusiasm of those that wanted to just keep adding to the blessing. This has been an amazing journey to see what a difference we made in the life of Sissy Bogert.”

“Look for your opportunities to BE A HERO to someone else! All I can say is that God made it way bigger than I ever dreamed it!!”

Her broker, Mark Dilworth, said “Christina has been a fantastic addition to our Market Center. She is engaging, enthusiastic and fun to be around. She participated in KW BOLD and was a key contributor to our Red Day project with the Boselli Foundation.”

What a gift it is to all of us, to be surrounded by so many special people; people who look for their opportunities to help others, in ways that are unique to them and their experiences. Christina is a quiet hero in the Jacksonville market center, and an inspiration to all of us to look in our hearts. We can make miracles happen!

John Whitesell – Definition Of A Quiet Hero: Hard-Working, Giving and Dedicated

Margaret Sherrill, Team Leader for St. Augustine, Florida, received a call last fall from a Keller Williams agent in Chicago who was moving to St. Augustine. This agent had experienced great success in Chicago and was capped already upon arrival to Florida in January. His name is John Whitesell.

John joined their market center upon passing his broker’s exam in January. He has been the greatest blessing to everyone in the office!

John has personally taken on mentoring Ouida Howell (their past Director of First Impressions) and meets with her for an accountability session each Tuesday. He has personally gone with her to networking events to help her overcome her reluctance.

He has taken the time to review every document that we use in the office and make recommendations for needed updates. He is always filling in to help everyone he can and goes to all the KW training possible.

Recently, St Augustine was planning their office Grand Opening. John volunteered to cook ALL the food and make ALL the drinks for this event. Among other things, this consisted of John barbequing 200 pounds of pork! He worked for over a week on the food prep alone. He also went to businesses and generated sponsors to help offset the event expenses.

John also spearheaded their KW Red Day event, which he hopes to make a year round commitment. The market center is working with the Betty Griffin house (battered women and children), and he has events on the calendar through the end of the year. John has helped with all this, while he is getting his own real estate business off the ground in a new area. He currently has almost $3 million in referral business waiting to close in Chicago.

He is always gracious, open, hard-working and dedicated to making Keller Williams Realty the best real estate company in the world! He is a quiet hero in the St Augustine market center.

Angela Duncan – A Quiet Hero Who Always Gives More To Others, Than To Herself

Angela Duncan is a realtor with Keller Williams Realty Atlanta Partners in Fayetteville, Georgia.Angela has a very caring heart, and “is known to always give more to others than to herself,” said her husband Brad. This has translated into her real estate career, as she provides exceptional caring service to her clients.

Before her career in real estate, she had fifteen years in education as a Special Education Para-Pro for Clayton County. Angela was always drawn to helping children with special needs. Anyone in that field absolutely understands that this is not an easy path. Some of these children can be hard to help, as they may even be physically difficult to handle. Yet Angela wanted to help them the most.

She was drawn in particular to Mathew, an autistic child. She began working with him when he was in kindergarten, and she stayed with him for seven years. She worked very closely with his family and even with his doctors. They continue to stay in touch with each other, and he recently graduated from high school!

Angela has a deep commitment to people. Her son Jeremy commented that “she always puts her needs aside to help someone else.”

Recently, the Duncan family had sponsored a little girl in Haiti: Mirlene. Although Angela actually has a terrible fear of flying, she worked up her courage so she could visit the child at her orphanage. They met long before the earthquake, and they were making plans for her to spend the summer with them in Atlanta. The orphanage had around 100 children in it at the time of the earthquake. Brad managed to get there after the devastation, and then there are over 15,000 children there. Angela and Brad are working now on coordinating donation efforts to help the devastated orphanages and families and trying to help them with the purchase of a new facility for those precious children.

As a realtor, Angela is very meticulous and detail oriented when it comes to her representation. “She truly cares about her clients and serves way above the call of duty,” her Team Leader Kim Estes commented. “She has more compassion than anyone that I know. Angela never meets a stranger and her concern is always for what is in the best interest of her clients. She is a true counselor and always says that she wants to make 100% certain that her clients are happy and well represented.”

Angela’s story is another wonderful example of the quality of people who make up Keller Williams Realty. She demonstrates what it means to be a quiet hero through the story of her life.

Jeremy concluded: “If you ever wanted someone on your side, it would be her. God puts people on this earth for special reasons; helping children is hers.”

Jack Logan - A Quiet Hero Who Faithfully Follows Through On His Commitments And Promises

Jack Logan works with Keller Williams Realty Atlanta Partners in Tucker, Georgia. He has been a realtor since 2003 and works hard to serve his clients well. Real estate is his profession, and he gives his clients exceptional attention.

Recently, Jack also made time to help a charter school in his county that needed a male role model to step in when another teacher was unexpectedly out. It was a short-term commitment, but what an impact Jack made in the time he was there for these children. With a background as a certified math and physics teacher, he was asked to help a group of 12 year old children, many of whom were challenging and not always motivated.

He committed to teaching them, grading their papers, fielding calls from parents, even marching kids to the principal's office. Every afternoon Jack had a line up of kids wanting individual help in math. He would come home and tell his wife Debby stories about the kids... and many days were discouraging. “He never wanted to yell at a student though many of the kids challenged him” she said. “He would quietly take individuals out of the classroom for chats in which he tried to encourage them to strive to do better. He wanted to give hope and make a difference in their lives.”

Many of the children of Path Academy are from other countries. This was not an issue for Jack, as he works with a large number of international clients in real estate; ranging from doctors from other countries to newcomers who are just getting started. He is always patient to explain the process of buying a house.

On a personal note, Jack's wife Debby has bravely fought off cancer since she was a teenager. They married in 1979 – her cancer did not stop him from wanting to marry her. “We were living in New York, and had had 2 children by 1985 when it was discovered I had cancer again,” Debby said.

“Every morning, he drove 2 hours north of NYC where he worked, then drove to the hospital every afternoon to be with me.... then drove home to be with our children every night. He would get up the next morning and do it again. When I finally got out of the hospital, he would faithfully take me everyday for walks to regain my strength. The cancer recurred again 6 months later, and he did it all over again. I watched him so many days read stories to the children because they asked, even if he had a terrible headache.... he has always been there for us.”

“I had always dreamed of going to Italy and Jack had promised we would go for our 30th anniversary in March 2009. Despite many reasons that could hinder this dream and promise, with the encouragement of family, Jack made that trip a reality. We had the time of our lives and are so thankful that we did not let a financially lean year in real estate stop us from celebrating our marriage commitment of 30 years.”

Jack works hard to serve his real estate clients, and he does an exceptional job of it. In addition to that, he is committed to helping others. Debby concluded: “That is simply who he is; he does not realize what a wonderful hero he is.” He is there faithfully to fulfill his commitments and promises, not only for Debby, and their family...but also for his clients, and even this winter, for the children at Path Academy.

Corki Feltman – Giving and Giving…to People and Animals!

Corki Feltman works with Keller Williams Realty Atlanta Partners in Stockbridge, Georgia. She has been a realtor since 1983 and has earned a reputation as someone who will offer her assistance whenever she can.

Despite difficult personal circumstances, Corki supports many local charities. Over the holidays, she was ringing the bell on the weekends for Salvation Army. With a local group, she collected can goods and non- perishable items at Walmart. Karen Linnear shared that through their efforts, Corki helped them collect ten large barrels of donations which they donated to a local food pantry.

Corki has a real love of animals, and “no matter what she is doing, she will stop and collect food, money or whatever she can for the Humane Society.” She has collected hundreds of pounds of dog and cat food for them!

Corki goes out of her way for people. Jamie Upchurch (a fellow agent) recalls: “When I was a new agent, Corki called me one day to ask me if I had a listing appointment with a certain Seller. When I told her I did, she said, "Ok then I am going to cancel my appointment."

I asked her “Why?” She said she did not want to do anything to keep Jamie from getting the listing, “I know you are new, and they cannot do any better." “What a sweet unselfish thing to do! Remember this was 15 years ago when everyone was scambling for business. So to me, Corki is the best.”

It has been a particularly cold winter, which is very hard on those who cannot afford warm clothing or coats. Corki also worked on a coat drive to support the local DFACS. In a recent letter from Clayton County Department of Family and Children Services, they shared their real appreciation for her:

“Thank you for your generous support of our efforts. Your commitment to promoting the well being of children in our community is sincerely appreciated. Our families were overwhelmed by the clothes and love you gave them.”

Corki’s generosity and giving heart extends to both the people and the animals around her, which is just part of what makes her such a wonderful example of what a quiet hero is all about.

A Hero Is...

Someone we admire. Someone we look up to.
Someone who gives us hope.
Not a Myth, or an Icon, or a Legend. Someone solid, genuine and real.
An ordinary person who does extraordinary things.

A Hero picks us up when we are down.
Believes in us before we believe in ourselves.
Inspires us to expand and embrace what is possible.

Helps us realize that ... we can be heroes, too.

We honored 21 Heroes on our quiet hero blog in 2009. I cannot wait to share with you, the special Heroes we will honor in 2010. I am writing two of their stories as we speak... stay tuned.

Be ready to be inspired... we can be heroes, too.