APARTMENTS.COM INVITES AMERICA TO “LIKE” THEM TO HELP END HOMELESSNESS IN MINNEAPOLIS

During the Month of November, Apartments.com

Will Donate $1 for Every LIKE on Facebook to Benefit Local Minneapolis Organization

People Serving People

CHICAGO—(November 8, 2012)—Apartments.com invites America to help them end homelessness by participating in the second annual “Raising Awareness. Taking Action: A Campaign to Help End Homelessness” initiative.  Throughout the month of November, Apartments.com will donate $1 for every new “LIKE” received on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/Apartments.com) —up to a maximum of $12,500—to benefit People Serving People of Minneapolis, MN. Because of the emergency shelter they provide to 99 homeless families every night in Hennepin County, People Serving People was identified as one of the beneficiaries of the second annual campaign—the other is Dallas, TX-based Vogel Alcove, who will receive $1 for every “LIKE” up to a matching $12,500. Located in Downtown Minneapolis, People Serving People’s 10-story building is essentially a hotel whose primary form of hospitality comes in helping families to overcome homelessness. Apartments.com made a $15,000 donation to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless during their inaugural effort in 2011.

In addition to the national Facebook “LIKE” campaign, Apartments.com has rallied apartment communities in the Minneapolis metro area to participate on a local level to benefit People Serving People, encouraging them to engage residents during the month of November to not only participate in the social media campaign, but also to host coat and fleece blanket drives and provide volunteer hours or purchase tickets for the organization’s November fundraising concert entitled Sounds Like Home.

“This initiative is closely aligned with what we do every day at Apartments.com,” states Dick Burke, senior vice president and general manager, Apartments.com. “We help hundreds of thousands of people find new apartment homes each year and we believe having a roof over your head is a fundamental human need, which is why we created this campaign to do our small part to help alleviate the burden of homelessness.”

“The new face of homelessness is that of a five year old child.  By supporting People Serving People, you can change a homeless child’s life,” states Daniel Gumnit, CEO of People Serving People.  “Support through the creative efforts of Apartments.com will provide shelter and solutions to help families break the cycle of poverty.”

Burke continues, “While we are donating this year to Dallas and Minneapolis-based organizations, we believe engaging people through social media will help increase awareness about the issues facing homeless individuals and families on a national scale. We are honored to be able to continue this effort in two great cities.”

The Apartments.com initiative, “Raising Awareness. Taking Action: A Campaign to Help End Homelessness,”  joins other high-profile efforts—including National Homeless Youth Awareness Month and National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness week—during the month of November, to heighten visibility and bring in funds to benefit organizations that advocate for and serve the homeless.  

Participants are not required to make any financial contribution, just simply visit (www.facebook.com/Apartments.com) and click “LIKE” before November 30, 2012 to have $1 donated on their behalf to help end homelessness. Apartments.com will make the donation on their behalf between November 1- 30, 2012, up to a maximum of $25,000, to be divided equally between People Serving People of Minneapolis, MN and Vogel Alcove of Dallas, TX. 

About People Serving People

People Serving People provides emergency shelter to 99 homeless families every night in Hennepin County. Located in Downtown Minneapolis, this 10-story building is essentially a hotel whose primary form of hospitality comes in helping families to overcome homelessness. Families come to the shelter because of landlord foreclosures, job loss, financial crisis, evictions, overwhelming medical expenses, etc – and they leave with stronger community connections, dedicated advocates, employment, stable housing, and a chance at a better future. The heart and soul of People Serving People’s work is the time spent on strengthening the futures of the 200+ children at the shelter every day – through early childhood education, healthy meals, volunteer readers and tutors, healthcare, family activities, school transportation, and stabilization of family life. Everyone deserves to have a place to call home – and People Serving People depends on the community’s support to help families find their way home. Visit them on the web www.peopleservingpeople.org for more information.

About Apartments.com

Apartments.com (http://www.apartments.com) is a leading national apartment Internet listing subscription service with more than 50,000 unique addresses representing millions of rental units from managed properties, newspaper classifieds and for-rent-by-owner properties. By incorporating the most relevant products to reach renters, including personalized searches and highly-visual ads featuring live chat, real-time rent, online video walk-through demonstrations, professional photography, a mobile website and iPhone and Android apps, Apartments.com creates easy access to its listings. Providing unmatched exposure to its advertisers through an intuitive name, strategic search engine placements and featured partnerships and more than 120 newspaper websites and innovative emerging media, Apartments.com reaches millions of renters nationwide, driving both qualified traffic and highly-engaged renters to leasing offices across the country. Apartments.com is a division of Chicago-based Classified Ventures, LLC. The Apartments.com network of apartment rental websites includes Apartment Home Living (http://www.apartmenthomeliving.com), a leading social media apartment website distinguished by a "live for fun" community experience, proprietary lifestyle matching and local living guides to help renters find their perfect place to live; Rental Homes Plus (http://www.rentalhomesplus.com), an online destination where house hunters who prefer to rent can choose from a robust inventory of houses, condos, town houses, duplexes and apartments from around the country; and Rentfish (http://www.rentfish.com), a national apartment website offering customizable searches by neighborhood, favorite coffee spot, sports arena, famous landmark and more.