Apartments.com Donates $12,500 to People Serving People

Facebook Campaign Generates Awareness and Funds for Local Charity

People Serving People Executive Director Daniel Gumnit and Tammy Kotula, Public relations and Promotions Manager at Apts.com.

Apartments.com recently presented a check for $12,500 to People Serving People at the culmination of their second annual “Raising Awareness. Taking Action: A Campaign to Help End Homelessness” Facebook initiative.  As part of the campaign, Apartments.com promised to donate $1 to People Serving People for every new “LIKE” it received on Facebook from November 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012.

“We are thrilled to have been able to support People Serving People as part of our second annual campaign,” said Dick Burke, senior vice president and general manager of Apartments.com.  “In every aspect this year’s campaign was a true success, generating a lot of support for the organizations we identified to receive the donations not only on Facebook, but across all social media channels and in the news. While $12,500 by itself won’t bring an end to homelessness, we hope it helps People Serving People to be able to continue the monumental good they do each and every day.  It was an honor for our organization to be able to do our small part on behalf of People Serving People this past holiday season.”

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 also received $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.

“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.”

Apartments.com committed to making a $1 donation for every new “LIKE” received on their Facebook page on behalf of the people who participated between November 1, 2012 and December 31, 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. Participants were not required to make any financial contribution, just simply visit (www.facebook.com/Apartments.com) and click “LIKE” before December 31, 2012, to have $1 donated on their behalf to help end homelessness. 

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 for more information.

About Apartments.com
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, 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, a national apartment website offering customizable searches by neighborhood, favorite coffee spot, sports arena, famous landmark and more.