Dani Blain Real Estate Team

Giving Back to Our Community

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One of the things we are most proud of is the way that we invest a predetermined (and ever growing) portion of our earnings into supporting our community. We love the way that each buyer or seller we work with is giving us another opportunity to make a difference in our community. At Dani Blain Real Estate we have built our brokerage from the ground up with giving as one of our foundational pillars. 

If you follow us on social media, or here on our blog, you have probably seen us mention some of the groups we support all over Central California. Our roots in this community are strong and we serve our clients well, so we can in turn serve our community well. Dani’s late husband, Kevin Blain laid the foundation for always giving back and when Dani created this brokerage after his passing, she knew she would continue the philanthropy that was close to her heart. 

At Dani Blain Real Estate we love that giving is a team effort and we love to see the way that our agents and their families participate. We have several charities and nonprofits in the community that we work with and support and look forward to continuing to do so – all because of our clients! Our clients  make it possible for us to support the agencies and nonprofits serving the specific needs of our local residents and making a difference in our community.

We have a strong conviction to help make sure that people in our communities have a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. Giving back to organizations that provide for those that are hungry, experiencing homlessness or need ministering are areas we will always focus on. Below are some of the great services groups we love:

  • One of our long term partnerships is with FoodLink Tulare County because they are incredible with their never ending fight to help combat food insecurity. Their mission is “to promote equitable and dignified access to nutritious, healthy food while also addressing the root causes of hunger through education, advocacy, and food systems change.” 
  • The work that Salt and Light Works is doing in the Central Valley is making a real difference for our neighbors experiencing homelssness. Their mission is to “cultivate community through dignified homes, jobs and healing for our neighbors experiencing homelessness in Tulare County.”
  • We have a super soft spot in our hearts for the Tulare Lighthouse Rescue Mission, who created a much needed women’s shelter in 2006 and then opened their men’s shelter in 2019. We love that they serve up the word of the Lord with the people they support. Their mission is “We embrace the poor and homeless with the compassion of Jesus Christ, as a beacon of hope and healing for a changed life, helping them to find their way home.”
  • You may remember our recent blog post where we highlighted the passion project of one of our very own agents, Dave Schlick and the nonprofit, The Village of Hope which was established for the indigenous people of the Mixteco village in southern Mexico. The work they are doing combines three of our greatest passions for giving – homelessness, hunger, and ministry. Their ultimate goal is to  “see the lives of staff, missionaries, and locals transformed into the likeness of Christ as the Village of Hope strives with passion and unity to rescue the lost, raise up disciples, and restore hope to the hopeless.” 
  • One of our most favorite opportunities for giving is with the Kevin Blain Memorial Scholarship program, where we award deserving graduating seniors scholarship monies to pursue further education or trade school. We gave out nine $500 scholarships to the class of 2021. You can read more about the program as well as about our recipients here.
  • El Rio Reyes Conservation Trust is a nonprofit regional California land trust whose mission is to safeguard the Kings River and its lands for future generations. The natural resources of the Central Valley are tremendous. Last year as fires burned threatening so much close to home we looked to support those organizations directly protecting resources and helping people displaced by the fires.  Read more about the last time we worked with them, in one of our previous blog posts. 
  • Youth for Christ or you may know it as Campus Life, is a community-based organization impacting the lives of teenagers throughout Tulare and Kings Counties. They serve as Gang Interventionists, Life Coaches, and Chaplains who meet the needs of students to help them be successful in life. It is their vision to “reach every young person throughout Tulare and Kings Counties with the Gospel, and partner with our local churches to disciple them to be like Christ.” They are currently serving in 41 schools throughout Tulare-Kings Counties and Dani Blain Real Estate proudly donated when they were experiencing multiple hardships during the height of the pandemic

  • Young Life and Young Lives is a very special organization to us and we support them whenever we can. In their work they “go to kids, build bridges of authentic friendship, and introduce them to Jesus Christ”. We especially get filled up by giving to their teen mom program, Young Lives,  where they focus on supporting pregnant and parenting teens through mentorship, community, and a life with Christ.

You have heard us say it before, and we know we will say it again… “we are blessed so that we may bless others”. Our brokerage was built on the ideas that we are here to serve our community, that when you succeed we do, and as your partnership serves us – we will always turn that back around and serve our community. Do you know of a local group that is serving our community that we should know about? We are always looking to expand our reach and help as many groups as we can – so if you have any ideas, please contact us! 

Gratitude and Giving

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The season of giving and gratitude is upon us! At Dani Blain Real Estate (DBRE), we have a heart for the specific needs in our community and we believe we are blessed so that we can bless others. This is something that Dani and her late husband Kevin started doing together before DBRE – so now that this Brokerage has grown, so has our giving. We are very pleased and proud to be able to serve our community every month and we are hoping with the holidays just around the corner, you will join us in our upcoming endeavors. 

We are better together! 

One of our most favorite giving opportunities has been our annual pumpkin pie giveaway. Well, this year it is expanding because we are partnering with V1st Church, Grocery Outlet, The Blake Shawn Team, Justin Hite Real Estate Team, Home Warranty of America, and Spirit 88.9 to feed 250 families this Thanksgiving. 

We feel very strongly that everyone deserves a family meal on Thanksgiving. Our very own Justin Hite Real Estate Team is providing all the turkeys, our partner team and volunteers have covered the sides, and as always we will have our pumpkin pies to make a full dinner! If you or someone you know could use a good, wholesome meal this Thanksgiving, please follow this link to receive one, click here.

#FeedOurFamilies 

You can help us feed our families in our Central Valley community with FoodLink of Tulare County  who is working hard to ensure everyone in need of a warm meal throughout the holiday season, receives one. We are very excited to kick off this local effort with $1,000 – where $1 provides 4 meals! To learn more about this or to donate, please click here. Anything you can do to help our local families would make a huge difference – you can help through December 31st. 

Coats & Cookies

This holiday season we are partnering with the Lighthouse Rescue Mission to provide new or gently used coats to those in need. Our plan is to make things a bit more sweet for those receiving the coats, so when we deliver them there will be plenty of delicious cookies to ring in the holidays. Will you join us in helping accomplish our goal of collecting as many women’s, men’s, teens and kids coats as we can? You can drop off coat donations at the Dani Blain Real Estate Office in Visalia now through December 17th. 

We find great joy in not only serving and giving back to our community, but to also raise awareness about the local needs in our community while highlighting the non-profits that serve them. This allows for more individuals and businesses to come together and help. This has been an especially difficult year for a great deal of Americans, and some of our own Central Valley families. We are hopeful that by spreading awareness, expressing some specific needs, and actionable items that some of the people in our network can help. If you are someone that is able, please consider helping us make someone’s holiday season a little brighter. Thank you and may God bless you and yours this season of giving. 

#FeedOurFamilies

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FoodLink and Dani Blain Real Estate Partner to #FeedOurFamilies

At Dani Blain Real Estate (DBRE) we have a heart for the specific needs in our community and we believe we are blessed so that we can bless others. We believe in giving back to groups or individuals whose mission or endeavors help make our community a better place. FoodLink of Tulare County is one of those critical non-profits serving our community during these unprecedented times. 

FoodLink is Tulare County’s only independent food bank, serving between 300,000-450,000 households a year.  Typically, this time of year FoodLink is serving 20,000 people monthly; for the month of April, FoodLink served over 52,000 people. To us, making our community a better place looks like caring for those who need it most.

FoodLink needs our help to serve local families in need!

Dani Blain Real Estate is working with FoodLink to launch a matching gift campaign during the month of June. For every dollar given to FoodLink through this special giving link, GIVE HERE, DBRE will match up to $10,000! That means every dollar you give can become two, making this $10,000 gift $20,000!

“With $20,000, we can provide 10,000 mealsfor local families that need our help.  When you donate to FoodLink. you know that your dollars are staying local and providing meals to your friends and neighbors.  Since COVID-19, all of our distribution numbers have dramatically increased by 150%, and all the support you give right now helps provide food as well as builds health, skills, and community, ” said Nicole Celaya, Executive Director, FoodLink of Tulare County.

By working together to support FoodLink we can ensure that our community’s most vulnerable… hungry children, seniors, homebound elderly and disabled, as well as self-isolating patients and families in need with healthy, nutritious food.

“We have chosen to give to FoodLink of Tulare County because they are serving the community we live and work in,” said Dani Blain. “I know what it is like to be hungry and now that I am not, I can’t watch others go through what I did. Our hope is that this giving campaign brings our community together to feed our families in need.”

Together we can #FeedOurFamilies. Your gift stays local to meet local needs. Join us, your local real estate brokerage and FoodLink to serve our families and neighbors in need.

Consider a gift today, follow this link to #FeedOurFamilies.

UPDATE: as of June 4 @ 3PM total gifts = $2,520!!!

Luke 6:38
“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

7 Ways to Help Our Community Right Now

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“The times we live in bring a greater sense of uncertainty, but also an overwhelming need to help each other out.” -Joe Pacovsky

During unprecedented times like these, things can feel overwhelming and maybe even a bit scary. Here at Dani Blain Real Estate we want to encourage our clients and future clients to use a bit of time right now to lean in to what grounds you. Lean in to what makes you feel good. That may be something as simple as taking a break from social media, baking cookies, or taking a walk through your neighborhood. For some it may be doing something to give back to the community or to our friends and neighbors. Our brokerage takes great pride in doing what we can to serve and lift others up in times of need. Here is a list you can pull from – or not. Maybe you are already knocking the ‘Quarantine Game’ outta the park. If you are, please add to our list in the comments below. But if you find yourself looking for a little nudge in the right direction, here you go:

1. Help a neighbor

This seems pretty simple, but for the last two and half months we may have been operating in fight or flight mode and not looking past the moment we were getting through. But now, as things are settling in and we are all getting ready to venture into what will become normal, we can take a step back and see that there may be someone a house or two away we can help. Reach out (especially to an elderly neighbor) and see if there is anything they need. It might be a cup of sugar or a box of tissue you have on hand. Or maybe you can show them how to do an online shopping order? You could save them the delivery fee and go pick the order up for them. It can be simple, it doesn’t have to be something like committing to mow a lawn every week, it could be bringing their trash cans out for them. It could be leaving them a quick note to tell them their roses are looking great. Anyway you can connect to the people around you will be great for both you and them. Give it a try and see what happens

2. Donate Blood

Blood banks always need blood, but they need it now more than ever. Blood drives across the country have been cancelled, less people can be allowed in donation centers with COVID-19 protocols, and less people are healthy enough or willing to donate. The American Red Cross released a statement saying, “…Donating blood is a safe process and people should not hesitate to give or receive blood. The need for blood is constant, and volunteer donors are the only source of blood for those in need of transfusions.”

And right here in the Valley, Central California Blood Center (CCBC) says, “Blood is very much an essential for our Valley people. There’s a reason why we say, “Valley people need valley blood.” As a health care operation and essential infrastructure to our community, we are open and accepting blood donors, with blood needed now more than ever.” If you are healthy and willing, making a donation now can make a big difference. Make an appointment with CCBC today right here on their website.

3. Volunteer

During this time volunteers are needed more than ever. When Shelter in Place orders were mandated, a number of industries that relied on volunteers, lost a great deal of them due to the populations that were volunteering – older adults in the high risk category. If you find yourself with time on your hands that you didn’t previously have, now is a great time to start volunteering. Right here in the Valley, our food banks have a huge need for volunteers. By visiting this link you will see a number of events that they need hundreds of volunteers for. Additionally, with so many things shifting to virtual modes these days, you can even volunteer remotely, from the safety and comfort of your own home. Check out this link where you will see a number of digital volunteer opportunities. 

4. Make a Donation

Non-profits across the country need your donations now more than ever. If you have the resources available to you, consider making a monetary donation to FoodLink of Tulare County or your local church so they can put your funds towards the greatest needs. CASA of Tulare County is also another great place here, locally that could really benefit from your support. Additionally, you could create The Valley’s very own Mutual Aid Group – almost like a virtual classified ad specifically for people who may have fallen upon hard times can list their needs (groceries, translation services, a prescription pick-up, etc…) and others can choose to answer the call. Currently the closest ones to us are in LA County and San Joaquin County. One of us could start one right here for our community in the Central Valley. 

5. Remember those working on the front lines

Think of the number of times we have gone to the grocery store, stopped in to pick up a to-go food order at a local restaurant, had a package delivered to our front door… how many times have we done those things in the last two and half months? The essential workers that have kept us going in these times have been called to the front lines in a way they certainly couldn’t have predicted. In addition to these Pandemic Heros, there are of course our healthcare workers, and first responders risking exposure every shift. What can we do to show all of them our gratitude? It depends on the resources you have available to you, but it could be calling the police station and asking if you can have pizzas delivered, or dropping off donuts at the fire station. It could also be having a little box of pre-packaged goodies and waters by your door for the people enabling your online shopping addiction. You could take an extra moment or two at the grocery store to give eye contact to the people that are ringing you up and bagging your groceries and delivering a heartfelt thank you. There are many ways to express our appreciation to all on the front lines and we think anything you do to recognize them will go a long way. Take that kindness and sprinkle it around like confetti!

6. Create Community

We keep hearing, “we are all in this together,” right? It’s true – we are all, collectively, experiencing life in a pandemic at the same time time, together – but we are also somewhat still physically apart. As humans, we all crave connection, we need it like we do food and water. It’s in our DNA – we are wired to connect. It’s no wonder some of us may be feeling a bit off kilter being socially distant from the people in our communities. Our kids aren’t seeing their friends everyday at school, we aren’t seeing the other parents we always do at pick ups and drop offs or soccer and basketball practices. This can leave us with a deficit in our “human connections bank.” So what can we do to fill them back up? We can connect virtually with Zoom, Facetime, Skype, etc… or the old fashioned way – a regular phone call, a postcard, a letter to connect with those that we normally see. 

We can also do little things in our neighborhood to create a sense of community with the people close in proximity, but that we maybe wouldn’t normally spend time with. There are a few simple things we can do to let our neighbors know we are with them in this, and uplift them in this challenging time. You could leave a little note to everyone at the mailbox. You could leave positive and uplifting notes on the sidewalk (not just in front of your house – all around the ‘hood) for people to see along their walks. You could paint, color, or print out a rainbow to display in your front window. Families in Italy started doing this when COVID-19 forced the entire country into lockdown. This simple rainbow that kids were drawing began to unite them and symbolized hope and served as a reminder that, “andrà tutto bene” (everything will be alright). People around the world have been inspired by this and you can see rainbows in windows to help remind us all that it will be good again. 

7. Take care of yourself

Just as they say in pre-flight reminders, you need to put the oxygen mask on yourself before you place it on those dependent on you. If we don’t make self-care a priority, there is no way we can help our fellow neighbors and our Valley community. Practicing good self-care doesn’t have to mean a spa day (although.. How nice does that sound?!) It really can be something as simple as taking a break from your day and stepping outside. Just being amongst nature (literally in your own backyard, or work parking lot with some trees) has been proven to lower blood pressure and help fight anxiety. You can kick it up a notch and practice guided meditation using a free app on your phone (we love Calm and Pray.com) and feel the stresses of our everyday melt away. You can journal, draw, color, take a nap, take a bath, or anything that would bring you a little joy that you carve time out for to prioritize yourself for just a small portion of your day. Give it a try and see that self care really does help set the tone for you to be your best self for others. 

The bottom line is this… all of us, collectively, are going through something that has never happened in our lifetime. None of us know how to do this “right” and there really isn’t a one size fits all right way to do life in the midst of a global pandemic. We just want you to know that we are here for you, we are with you in this together, and we are rooting for everyone as we all create our own paths through this challenging time. We would also love to hear from you… if you tried some of the things in our list, if you have ideas to add, or if you just want to give us a virtual fist bump in the name of solidarity, we will take it! Share this article on social media for us or email it to a friend and thank you for being a part of our community.