Judy Pitt, a sales associate with Wright Kingdom Real Estate in Boulder, Colo., is one of five winners chosen by the National Association of Realtors® as REALTOR® Magazine’s 2011 Good Neighbor Award winners. Pitt was selected for founding the nonprofit Kazi Yake (His Works) to address the need for clean water in Kenya.
“The Good Neighbor Awards program acknowledges REALTORS® who are dedicated to strengthening communities through volunteer work and helping those in need,” said NAR President Ron Phipps, broker-president of Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I. “As a past Good Neighbor Award recipient, I know of the tremendous effort and time these winners devote to each of their causes. Judy is an extraordinary example of how REALTORS® truly have a global impact, especially on communities in need.”
Through her nonprofit Kazi Yake, which translates from Swahili to mean “His works,” Pitt has spent 10 years trying to bring potable water and hygiene information to rural villages in western Kenya, where children die every day due to remediable ailments such as diarrhea, malaria, typhus, and cholera that are brought on by tainted water.
Kazi Yake initially focused on teaching simple hygiene practices and providing bio-sand filters for drinking water and rudimentary hand-washing stations. From there, Kazi Yake has grown in both scale and scope. This summer, the organization completed drilling a deep-water well to serve approximately 10,000 people whose only previous access to water was a contaminated river. More than 100 midwives trained by Kazi Yake now can instill good hygiene practices in new mothers, who then help prevent the spread of disease by passing these habits on to their kids.
“Out of clean water comes many things,” said Pitt. “One of those is healthy children. If you have best practices for midwives, for example, they wash the baby when it’s born and pass good practices on to the mother.” Pitt was introduced to Kenya by Shem Okello, head of the National Baptist Convention of Kenya, who spoke at her Bible study class in Colorado. After many trips to Kenya, Pitt won the confidence of the locals by adopting their lifestyle. This closeness has led to Pitt being considered part of Okello’s family, to the point where she even has a Kenyan name: Judy Shida Taabu Okelo Okello.
“I claim [Shem] as my ‘first family,’” said Pitt. “I have children named after me, which lets me do the teaching I do, because I’m considered a grandmother.” Since her first trip to Kenya in 2003, Pitt has been back 11 times, spending up to two months at a time and bringing along as many as 20 volunteers. In addition to providing water and hygiene training, the volunteers help Pitt plan crops, repair roofs and build playgrounds. Pitt plans to settle there permanently after she retires from real estate.
Over the years, Kazi Yake has built 18 churches and trained many widows to run small tailoring or craft businesses. Pitt persuaded a Colorado seed company to donate 10,000 seed packets and send experts to train the villagers how to increase harvest yields. She is now raising money to build a medical clinic that will provide surgery, dental, and birth services. Pitt and the other four Good Neighbor Award winners will each receive a $10,000 grant for their charity and a $2,000 Lowe’s gift card, and will be profiled in the November-December issue of REALTOR® Magazine. The recipients will receive their awards on Saturday, November 12, at the 2011 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in Anaheim, California.
“The Good Neighbor Awards honor REALTORS® who are leaders in their community,” said Frank Sibley, REALTOR® Magazine publisher. “This year’s winners have literally saved lives, and inspire those around them to make positive changes in the world. We hope this award and the grant money will allow these Realtors® to expand their reach and help even more people.” Celebrating its 12th year, the
Good Neighbor Awards has been awarded annually since 2000 and is presented by NAR's REALTOR® Magazine. The Good Neighbor Awards is sponsored by Lowe’s and HouseLogic. Nominees were judged on their personal contribution of time, as well as financial and material contributions to their cause. To be eligible, nominees had to be NAR members in good standing.
More information about the Good Neighbor Awards winners is available at www.realtor.org/realtormag.
Lowe’s (www.lowes.com) has worked with customers to maintain and improve their homes since 1946. Lowe’s is proud to support the Good Neighbor Awards. Lowe’s is a proud supporter of Habitat for Humanity International, American Red Cross, SkillsUSA/SkillsCanada, and The Nature Conservancy, in addition to numerous nonprofit organizations and programs that help communities in North America. In 2010, Lowe’s and the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation together contributed more than $30 million to support community and education projects in North America. Lowe’s also encourages volunteerism through the Lowe’s Heroes program, a company-wide employee volunteer initiative. Lowe’s, a proud partner in NAR’s REALTOR Benefits® Program, brings Realtors® exclusive benefits to help build relationships with their customers, generate referrals and expand their client base. The benefits program is featured on www.LowesRealtorBenefits.com.
HouseLogic, (www.houselogic.com), is a free source of information and tools for homeowners from the National Association of Realtors® that helps homeowners make smart decisions about all aspects of their home. HouseLogic helps homeowners plan and organize their home projects and provides timely articles and news; home improvement advice and how-to’s; and information about taxes, home finances and insurance.
The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries. Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org. This and other news releases are posted in the News Media section.