Luxury Real Estate

By Jim Walberg of Caribbean Islands Realty

Jim Walberg and his fellow Rotarians completed another map of the USA on the playground of Tassajara Hills Elementary School - 40 feet long and 25 feet high! It is part of our continued support of education projects in our community.

Since our local Rotary Club was founded in April 1989 it has been serving the many needs of our East Bay communities. During the past 20 years, we have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of people hours to address these local needs. Many of our Rotary Club’s community projects have been focused on educational needs of our school districts. We call one of them “The Maps Project”. Several years ago we learned of a map painting kit that was painted on elementary school playgrounds to assist kids with their understanding of our country’s geography. It sounded as if it was a winner of addition to any school.

We contacted our local school district and opened a discussion with them regarding how it could be of benefit to school kids to better understand the geography of our country. They accepted our invitation to paint this map on all of the elementary schools in the district. Yesterday we completed our eighth USA map on the playground. It has evolved into a very organized operation which now allows us to pull it off in just one day. Yesterday we are done from start to finish in must under six hours because of many volunteers showing up to help.

One of the ways that “Service Above Self” is learned by our younger generations is by modeling it. We invited local high school students and students from Tassajara Elementary School to assist us with yesterday’s project. So, you had young and old working together to create a magnificent end result. There were smiles and high-fives all around as we admired the finished product. The last step of any of the maps we have painted is having the Mississippi River painted along its entire route with it ending at New Orleans. What a great day.

During yesterday’s project I overheard many conversations among the adults and students about when our next project would take place because they wanted to make sure they helped us again. The “virus” of community service continues to be spread as we are always on the lookout for the needs within our community that need to be addressed. Our “army” of volunteers has now expanded to include high school and elementary students who also want to give back to their community.

You may remember my daily mantra, “To whom much is given, much is required.” As long as we are still breathing our work is not over on this earth in order to make it a better place. So, what does community service have to do with East Bay real estate? The quality of life of a community is a key factor as to why people want to live in our region. We want to make sure we are doing our part to improve the life experiences of all who live here. Contact me anytime if you would like to join us on any of our community projects. Until next time…your lifestyle detective remains on duty in the East Bay.

By Janine Carey of Sotheby's International Realty

Nassau, Bahamas (January 2009) – Damianos Sotheby’s International Realty joined other community minded local business houses, in support of The Rotary Club of Abaco’s Fire Hydrant Project. This project was started over two years ago by Rotary, with the objective to install much needed fire hydrants throughout Marsh Harbour and the neighboring communities of Dundas and Murphy Town. With the terrible fires in the “Mud” that destroyed over 50 homes and more recently, “Sapodillas Restaurant” and “Maxwell’s Grocery Store”, this request from the Marsh Harbour Volunteer Fire Department, has become a matter of urgency in the Community.

Working from the Marsh Harbour office, our own Bill Albury, as Grants Chairman of The Rotary Club of Abaco has worked tirelessly to steer this effort to raise over B$40,000.00 within the community. The local fund raising campaign has been successful and now The Rotary Club of Abaco is making an application for a grant through Rotary “Partner Clubs” in Florida and Rotary International, whereby the locally raised funds would be matched and re-matched, to the tune of nearly B$150,000.00. This grant, if successful, will not only install over 50 fire hydrants but will also buy a much needed tanker truck and fire fighting gear for the Fire Department.

Damianos Sotheby’s International Realty is pleased to be associated with The Rotary Club of Abaco and this most special of community projects. We wish Bill and his group every success in their grant application. It is because of the determination of special people like Bill Albury that the Abacos continue to develop and progress.

Damianos Sotheby’s International Realty, serves the entire Bahamas and is headquartered in downtown Nassau with offices in Lyford Cay; Governor's Harbour and Spanish Wells Eleuthera; Marsh Harbour, Hope Town and Elbow Cay, Abaco; with associates in Treasure Cay, Abaco; Exuma, and Freeport. The Bahamas, offers exclusive Sotheby’s International Realty marketing, advertising and referral services designed to attract well-qualified buyers to the firm’s property listings. In addition, the firm and its clients benefit from an association with the Sotheby’s auction house, which promotes real estate referral opportunities with auction house clientele.