In a heartfelt Veterans Day monologue recorded on November 11, Leigh Brown recounts meeting a 90‑year‑old Korean War veteran in the North Carolina mountains whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Helene. She describes how the veteran’s life savings were tied up in his house, leaving him with virtually nothing and a wife with dementia in a care home. Brown explains the Realtor Relief Foundation’s grant program, which provides one‑time $1,000 grants to homeowners whose houses have been lost or severely damaged, and emphasizes that Realtor member dues cover overhead so donations go directly to recipients. She shares examples of other disaster‑affected neighbors—a pregnant woman needing rental assistance—and volunteer efforts such as hot meals three times a day. Brown highlights the veteran’s desire for normalcy, illustrated by his visit to Bojangles’, and stresses the importance of privacy for beneficiaries. The video concludes with a clear call to action: anyone can support the foundation by texting “TEAMRRF” to 71777, with the promise that donor dollars reach neighbors quickly, even before FEMA assistance.
Chapters
Well, hello friends, I'm Leigh Brown and it is currently November 11th. And yes, that's Sonic who needs to come look at you too. I just got to share with y'all a, a moment that happened with a veteran in the North Carolina mountains in this service period after Halloween where so many people are finding ways to serve and there's so many neighbors that, um, They just need to be cared for right now. I don't ever diminish Veterans Day. Veterans Day is a really big deal. I come from a veteran family. I know exactly how critical it is being in North Carolina. We've got Fort Bragg, Camp Lejeune, we've got Seymour Johnson. You've got so many people in this great state who have served, and I think we all want to do our best for our veterans. And for the last couple of days, I and many other volunteers from the Realtors have been accepting applications for our grant program through an organization called the Realtor Relief Foundation, and I'll tell you all more about that in a second. But what happened is I met a veteran, a Korean War veteran. I should take my hat off before I talk about him. 90-year-old gentleman taking care of his wife of 76 years. Is that what he said? It's either 76 or 77 years, and she's got dementia. She's in a home. And he lost his home in Hurricane Helene. And when I say lost his home, it washed away. That home was all he had, you know, for earthly goods. He's obviously— he's good with the Lord. He's still got his wife. Um, the house is gone. The fact that maybe you don't understand is that, um, His life savings weren't sitting in Bitcoin. They weren't sitting in a bank. His life savings were in his house. And that's pretty normal for people of our greatest generation. And it's normal for people who, for whatever reason, don't have a lot of trust in the banking system and in the systems that we have. So his savings were in this house that washed away. So here he is, 90 years old, served this country with honor. As a Korean soldier, was a soldier in the Korean conflict, and everything he has is gone. I still can't get my mind around it, y'all. I cannot get my mind around the, the depth of what's going on in the wake of Helene. And I look at the opportunity that I had to visit with him and tell him that the application I was processing with him was from the Realtors because we want people to stay in their homes. We want people to stay in their communities, and that's our dream. We want people to stay put, and for him staying put is a donated camper on his land, and he doesn't know what to do next except that he does have neighbors and there's volunteers all around him that love him and are embracing him and is family. And what the REALTORS® did— our grants aren't huge, we're able to offer $1,000, and it's to homeowners whose houses have been lost or severely damaged. And you should know that your dollars, if you're a REALTOR®, if you donated to the REALTOR® Relief Fund, your dollars were able to give some relief to this Korean War veteran who's lost everything. And your money got there before any FEMA dollars did, and he's going through the process and we'll see what they say, and who knows, but your dollars got there first. And I don't know if we think about that sometimes, that we make donations and we don't know where they went. I think it's a common concern nowadays with so many scammers, and good Lord, y'all, the bad actors all over the mountains have been everywhere. But you who are in real estate, you're not bad actors. In fact, you, you helped somebody today on Veterans Day. You were able to help a 90-year-old Korean War vet who's lost it all. You also helped a lot of other people. I met a lady today who had her baby on October 18th, which means that when this storm went through, she was real pregnant, and you were able to give her a little help so she can figure out how to get the rental property ready for this baby. And I just, I can't emphasize it enough, y'all. This is a disaster the likes of which this country's never seen. Those of y'all that are not in North Carolina, you don't know. And we're trying to educate because we want our neighbors to remember that they matter. And most importantly, I want you to know that if you're concerned about your donation dollars being scammed or mishandled. Realtors don't do that. Our foundation is 100%. The Realtors, our member dues cover the overhead. So it's an actually 100% donation foundation and your dollars are being handed out. In fact, today was the board of directors meeting for the National Association of Realtors and there was a fundraising going on in the meeting in Boston. I was I was not there, obviously. I was in the North Carolina mountains, and I gave away as much money as y'all raised today. That's just me. There's other volunteers out there doing grant applications as well. Keep it coming. All I can tell you is that your gifts matter because these neighbors matter. Everyone that I met with and prayed with and loved on needed to be loved on. And sometimes it's not just the dollars. It is the story behind the dollars. Which also means for you, the donor, I want you to know the story of where your dollars are going. Now, there's a reason I don't put any of these folks on camera. I'm not putting them on film. That's not my story to tell. That is privacy that's important to them. If you know anything about mountain people, you know that privacy is very important. But I think it's important for you to know a little bit of, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. And if you want to be a part of this process that is getting dollars into the hands of neighbors, The organization is called the REALTOR Relief Foundation. You can text a gift there if you text the word TEAMRRF to the number 71777. It's also in the caption for this video. You can make a gift right now, and you don't have to be a REALTOR® to make a gift. Anybody can make a gift, and you will know then how REALTORS® operate, that we are very focused on keeping our neighbors in their communities. And making sure that they feel cared for in tangible ways. The other thing I got to tell you is that when I talked to this gentleman, I was stationed at a volunteer fire department that's doing yeoman's work taking care of people. They are providing hot meals 3 times a day so that folks can eat something besides what's in a can, and not that they're not grateful for what's been provided, but y'all know a hot meal is a little different than canned meals. And we asked this gentleman, was he going to go get a bite to eat? And he said he'd already eaten at the Bojangles'. And we said, "Well, why in the world did you go over to the Bojangles' when we've got hot meals right here?" And he said, "Because it feels normal." So if you're the person who wants your neighbors to feel normal again, support the Realtor Relief Foundation. And support any other organization that is focused on helping people stay put and stay in their communities and feel normal again. And I'll be back with more, but on this Veterans Day, to you in specific, sir, I take off my hat.
