Wednesday’s Woman: Paige Powers

Paige Powers says she has always had a heart for volunteer work.

Powers is the Team Leader of the Keller Williams market center of Duluth. She is responsible for growing that office to over 200 agents.

The Duluth office is one of eight offices in the Atlanta area under the umbrella of Keller Williams Atlanta Realty Partners.

Kares 4 Kids is a nonprofit organization that works with children in need. It was founded in 2005 by Keller Williams Atlanta Realty Partners, specifically Marci Fair and her husband Bryan.

“It was just a dream of theirs,” said Powers.

Powers has been involved with Kares 4 Kids since day one. Since its founding, they have impacted over 10,000 lives of children in the community.

One thing Kares 4 Kids does is something called Book Bag Parties. Each of the 8 offices participates. Agents fill the book bags with items such as boxes of crayons, pencils, erasers, folders and rulers. The bookbags then go to kids who may not be able to afford all the supplies they need for school.

This year it was the children of the agents that put together the book bags.

“It was just amazing to watch these kids,” said Powers. “So generous and so happy to be doing it. It was just a joy to watch.”

At one point one of the mothers asked if some of the bags would be going to her daughter’s school. Her daughter was confused and asked why they would need them there. It never occurred to her that there could be kids in need at her school.

“It really taught these kids a lesson that day,” said Powers.

The book bags were sent to local elementary schools and some went to Sheltering Arms, a daycare center that allows working mothers to put their children in daycare when they may not be able to afford it.

Some of the kids from Sheltering Arms were even allowed to come to the book bag party, pick out and fill their own book bag.

“The looks on their faces was precious,” said Powers.

Between all eight offices, over 1,000 book bags were put together and sent out.

Keller Williams International has something in the spring called RED Day. RED stands for Renew, Energize and Donate.

This year Keller Williams Realty Atlanta Partners planted some vegetable gardens at Sheltering Arms.

“The kids actually got to cultivate the gardens,” said Powers. “It was really cool.”

Powers says they got a lot of support from the local community.

“Our local Lowes did an amazing job of providing potting soil, plants and box gardens,” said Powers.  “Someone even donated an inflatable “jumpy” thing for the kids. It was like a carnival atmosphere which was awesome. The kids were so cute.”

They entered their garden into a contest for the Great American Cleanup. They won 500.00 and with that were able to turn around and donate it to Sheltering Arms.

Kares 4 Kids is not the only way Powers gives back to the community. Powers also rescues animals on her 2.5 acres in Snellville.

“The most we ever had were 4 dogs and 5 cats,” said Powers.

Other projects of Kares 4 Kids involves sending gift cards to teenagers in foster care at Christmas, sending underprivileged children to summer camp and providing stuffed animals to hospitalized children.

“I do whatever they need me to do,” said Powers.

If you are interested in learning more about Kares for Kids, visit their website.