RALEIGH, NC, January 07, 2010
/24-7PressRelease/ -- Raleigh commercial real estate firm, Coleman & Associates and allied company UHF Development Group of Raleigh and New Bern decided to show some appreciation to the members of Golf Company of the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines from Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC by sending Holiday Care Packages. UHF's New Bern office manager, Karen Smitten and her daughter Mica became acquainted with a few of the young men from Golf Company, who eventually became like family, often hanging around the Smitten household on weekends helping with some chores and enjoying some home cooking. In October these men and the rest of Golf Company were deployed to the Helmand Valley in Southern Afghanistan and Karen and Mica kept in touch with the guys as best as they could.
After hearing first hand of the Marines' extremely tough living conditions Karen asked the Marines for a list of items which would make life better. The list included things like chap stick, AA batteries, beef jerky and baby wipes which were in high demand since showers weren't expected to be available. When Karen decided to put together a Christmas care package for the four young men she knew, she called one of her bosses Eddie Coleman to ask for a little help. Coleman, President of Coleman & Associates and co founder of UHF Development Group, became enthusiastic about the plan to help the Marines. Sensing that their friends would also want to participate, Coleman committed to help Karen arrange to send care packages to at least the 30 guys in her friends' section of Golf Company. Upon hearing of the plan, Hubie Tolson of New Bern, UHF Development Group co founder, and Rhonda Hensley, Coleman & Associates and UHF's Raleigh office manager joined the effort. "We felt like this was the least we could do for young men who are putting their lives on the line on our behalf daily and I was confident that our friends would also want to show their appreciation too if they had a simple way to do so," said Coleman.
After concluding that a complete care package could be purchased, assembled and shipped for about $50.00 a package a plan began to evolve. Coleman wrote an email which he and Tolson sent to a bunch of their friends. They offered their friends the opportunity to participate by bringing items for the packages to their offices or by simply sending a check to pay for a care package for one or more Marines. Coincidentally the Raleigh News & Observer ran a front page story the next day featuring "Golf Company Marines" and describing their tough living conditions.
Within hours after sending the email, replies of support began pouring in. "The response was overwhelming. We always knew we had some good, caring pals, but we were blown away by the generosity and appreciation which over 60 of our friends showed for the efforts of our Marines. Even a guy I didn't even know overheard my son and I talking about the care package plan at the YMCA and he came up to me and offered to sponsor a Marine," said Coleman. The goal of providing packages for at least four guys was met within a few minutes of sending the email. After seeing the quick positive response, Karen and Rhonda, expert shoppers, got busy. Within two weeks funds had been raised and multiple trips had been made to Sam's Club and Wal Mart. After a lot of effort and lost sleep by Karen and Rhonda, care packages were purchased, assembled and shipped to each of the 90 Marines in Golf Company along with a Thank You note from "Friends of Golf Company." After reading of the problems with mice and about the Golf Company bomb dogs, the group even included care packages of flea collars and treats for the dogs and cat food to entice the stray cats to stay around camp to help with the mouse problem.
Coleman & Associates and UHF Development Group would like to thank everyone for their donations to this extremely worthy group of young men, but most importantly would like to thank those young men who are risking their lives and sacrificing so much for our families, our friends and our country.
UHF Development Group specializes in retail developments and redevelopments on behalf of regional and national and local retail and business tenants in NC. Coleman & Associates is a full service commercial & investment real estate service company which offers a full range of services including market analysis, site selection and acquisition, brokerage, leasing, property management and development consulting. With 25 years experience, Coleman & Associates has assisted many businesses in the completion of diverse transactions throughout North Carolina and specializes in helping America's best businesses acquire North Carolina's best locations.
About Coleman & Associates
Coleman & Associates specializes in helping America's best businesses acquire North Carolina's best locations. For further information, please contact us at (919) 828-4808.
---
Press release service and press release distribution provided by http://www.24-7pressrelease.com# # #
- afghanistan, associates, bern, camp, carolina, christmas, coleman, development, eddie, estate, jacksonville, lejeune, marines, new, north, raleigh, real, uhf
Read more Press Releases from Lucas Kinnin:
