Double Duty: New Jersey Realtor Manages Two Full-Time Jobs (and Loves It)
Brookside, NJ (PRWEB) July 30, 2013 -- Working as a full time realtor is never easy, but it’s even more of a challenge in these uncertain economic times. With all that’s required—the nonstop phone calls, presentations, client service, contract negotiations, networking, and more—it often seems there aren’t enough hours in the day. Many in the industry report they barely can catch their breath, feeling overwhelmed and pressured with little time for personal pursuits.
But that hasn’t stopped Jane MacNeil, a realtor with Keller Williams Realty, the largest real estate franchise company in the United States.
In addition to her work with buyers and sellers in the tri-counties of Morris, Somerset, and Hunterdon, New Jersey, MacNeil serves as the President of Turn The Towns Teal®, a New Jersey-based national nonprofit that promotes awareness of ovarian cancer, the leading cause of death from all gynecologic cancers in the U.S.
It’s no figure-head position, either. Working with only a part-time assistant, who is also a realtor, MacNeil has grown the nonprofit from a campaign with a handful of volunteers in New Jersey towns to a national, grassroots movement with registrants in 36 states.
Each September, coinciding with National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, Turn The Towns Teal volunteers across the country tie biodegradable, made-in-the-USA ribbons in and around town centers, on trees, mailboxes, cars and other objects to make people aware of ovarian cancer and its subtle symptoms. In addition to “tealing” the ribbons, MacNeil’s “teal angels,” as she calls volunteers, also distribute symptom cards and literature to health clubs, libraries, church groups, and stores.
“When the real estate market was down a couple of years ago,” says MacNeil, who has been in real estate for some 20 years, “I often joked that I had two full-time volunteer jobs.”
The Turn The Towns Teal campaign was started in 2007 by MacNeil’s late sister-in-law, Gail, who also was a realtor. “Gail questioned her gynecologist on three separate occasions, complaining of feeling bloated, one of the signs of ovarian cancer,” said MacNeil. “Each time she was assured her symptoms were associated with middle age. Had she known what we now know about the symptoms of ovarian cancer she would have immediately sought the advice of a gynecologic oncologist.”
When Gail died in 2008, Jane took over the organization. Over the years, she has devoted herself to the non-profit, while still focused on her real estate work. “Keller Williams is dedicated to volunteerism which is probably one of the reasons I was drawn to them,” MacNeil says. “The associates in my office are supportive and ‘teal” Bernardsville and Basking Ridge, NJ. Now other Keller Williams offices are joining in and ‘tealing’ their towns.”
MacNeil says the months leading up to September’s awareness activities are particularly busy ones for Turn The Towns Teal as she recruits new volunteers and keeps in touch with those who have been involved with previous campaigns. She often works on the non-profit in the early morning, focuses on her real estate work during the day, then returns to Turn The Towns Teal in the evening. To get the work done, she spends long hours at her computer, or, as she says, until “whenever.”
“I love what I do,” says MacNeil, and “I am interested in my volunteers, their families and the reasons why they are involved in the awareness campaign. The same holds true for real estate. My customers become true, lifetime friends. It’s a privilege to be able to do what I’m doing which is ultimately saving more women’s lives through the Turn The Towns Teal awareness campaign.”
Interested in helping Turn The Towns Teal? The nonprofit is still seeking volunteers to help its September efforts. You can register now by going to http://www.turnthetownsteal.org.
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Turn The Towns Teal® is a national nonprofit that was founded in 2007 by Gail MacNeil of Chatham, NJ. The campaign goes on in her name and in her honor. For more information about Gail’s story and how to become a Turn The Towns Teal volunteer, go to http://www.turnthetownsteal.org.
Rona Cherry, Rona Cherry Associates, 212-586-0917, [email protected]
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