I wrote to you last week about a special fundraiser that I was scheduled to participate in on Wednesday, September 19 and I wanted to let you know of the results.

A group of sixty agents, assembled in Vancouver for our company’s national sales conference joined forces to raise funds for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation by hiking the Grouse Grind. The event was organized by my colleague Sebastian Albrecht and his wife Bess. Sebastian happens to hold the world record for the most ascents of the mountain in a single day. He climbed Grouse Grind fourteen times over sixteen hours back in 2010. Having now climbed it just once, I have some appreciation for the magnitude of Sebastian’s accomplishment. I found a single climb to be a huge challenge, one which I will never forget and one which I hope to experience again. My thanks to Sebastian and Bess for organizing the grind and for bringing this wonderful experience to my life.

I had hoped to chronicle my climb in video snips. I didn’t get too far in before I realized I just couldn’t do that without dramatically affecting my climb time. It very quickly became difficult to operate the camera without stopping for a rest, something I really didn’t want to do. I came to give the grind my best effort. Here are the before and afters in a brief video.

My time was 1:01:13. Speaking of time, it’s not too late to donate to this great cause. You can do that here if you’d like to. My friends stepped up and contributed $2,400 to the event. Collectively, our group raised over $25,000 for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation. Thanks to all who contributed.

While I am appreciative of every bit of support, financial and otherwise, I am especially touched by the generosity of those in the Saskatoon real estate community (my competitors, essentially) who helped with the cause.

Thank you all.

Pauline Perpick

Pat Tymchatyn

Patti Haubrich

Daryl Miller

Brenda and Calvin Taylor

Ed Wojcichowsky

Riel Syrenne

Lana Stark

Becky Laliberté

Regan MacNamee

Kim Newransky

Kevin Goyer

Chris Dagenais

Lyndon Neher

Kelly Kowalchuk

Lionel Betker

Maria Trakadas

Jacqueline Dolynny

Jerry Andreas

Grace Tuck

David and Julie Cortens

Heather Daverne

Dave Scharf

Brian J Taylor

Kevin Cross

Caroline Bickle

Darwin Dolgopol

Don McIvor

Barry Willick

Dean Hartley

Ron Thompson

Leo Morrison

Diane Crawford

Kerry Clarke

Joseph and Charmaine Taylor

John and Norene Penner

Sharon Cybulski

Derek Watson

Cec and Richard Willick

Don Garvie

John Stickel

Thanks again to all of you. I appreciate it so much and I promise that your contributions will be put to good use.

Norm Fisher

Good morning! I'm doing something later today that has me kind of excited and I'm hoping that it may be of interest to you. If it is, great!. If not, no worries.

Later this afternoon I, with a group of friends, will take the grueling three-kilometer trek up Grouse Mountain in beautiful Vancouver, BC to raise money for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation, the largest charity of its kind, dedicated to supporting shelters for women who are suffering abuse, and violence prevention programs. They call this trail "the Grind" as it's well known for tearing legs apart. It should be fun! I feel prepared physically.

Did you know that violence against women is still a major problem, even in Canada? Every year, hundreds of women are victims of domestic violence. Some of them stay in that messy and very dangerous situation because they simply don't feel that they have a safe place to go to get away from it. Should you choose to support my effort today, every nickel of your donation will end up at a shelter that provides safe haven to women facing these challenges.

So whaddya say? If you have anything left in this year's charity budget I'd sure appreciate the consideration. If you want to give big, do it! If you want to throw ten bucks our way we'll be super proud to carry it to the top of Grouse Mountain on your behalf and put it to work changing lives.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Here's what I need you to do.

Click this link http://www.tinyurl.com/chv4j59

Click the "make a donation" link on the left side of the page

Fill out the form and click the "next" button at the bottom of the page

Confirm how you'd like your name to appear and write a really encouraging note to help me up the mountain, then click next.

I promise it doesn't take nearly as long as it might seem.

If you've already donated to my campaign, thank you so much for the support.

Thanks for your time and consideration.

Norm

Last week, I asked you for a product donation to Royal LePage’s National Garage Sale for Shelter. Many of you came through and we ended up with piles of great stuff to resell on Saturday at the local Royal LePage office .

Thank you!

The wind presented the odd challenge and the odd bit of breakage, but the sun shone and people arrived to buy. Thanks to those who participated in that way as well.

Those of us who were working the sale had a great time meeting people who generously paid for the few items they wanted to take home. By the end of the five-hour event, we were about $3,700 in the black, not a bad haul when you’re dealing with revenue that comes in as quarters, loonies and toonies. That money will be donated to the YWCA Crisis Shelter and Interval House where it will go to work helping woman and kids who have experienced abuse at home make a fresh start in a safe place. Again, thank you so much.

Similar efforts were conducted at Royal LePage offices across the country. When we have a total tally of proceeds raised, we’ll let you know.

The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation is Canada’s largest public foundation dedicated exclusively to funding women’s shelters and violence prevention and education programs. Administrative costs of operation are underwritten by Royal LePage so 100% of proceeds raised through commission-based donations from agents, and community events like our garage sale and our fun spiel go directly to the shelters we support. Since its inception, Royal LePage agents and brokers have contributed or raised over $14 million to help end family violence for more than 30,000 women and children who take refuge in a shelter each year.

If you missed out on the sale and would like to make a financial contribution, however large or small, you can do so at the Shelter Foundation website.

Thanks again,

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra