When Paige Powers knocked on the door of Keirstein Lester, it was kismet.
Lester was one of thousands in southern West Virginia whose home was deluged by floodwaters in February of this year, and Powers was on the doorstep offering a lifeline—an application for assistance from the REALTORS® Relief Foundation. A foster mother of six between the ages of two and 14 years old, Lester was grateful but didn’t know what to think.
“I was skeptical at first,” Lester says. “We were like, ‘here comes somebody to try to buy out all these houses.’”
So, she called her mom, Sandi Blankenship.
Blankenship—a mover and shaker in West Virginia’s McDowell County—is the director of God’s Grace Ministry, which operates a food and baby supply pantry in the small coal city of Welch. Her first reaction to Lester’s call was more skepticism.
“My daughter told me, ‘Mom, this woman came by my house and wants to give me money,’” Sandi Blankenship recalls. “I said, ‘Don't take any money from people. Don't do that. Don't trust them. Don't let them in,’ because when you're in a very high emotional state, you're very vulnerable.”
But Lester took a leap of faith and completed the application. Sure enough, Powers came back a few days later with a relief check for $1,000.
“It was much larger than we had expected,” Lester says of the funds which went toward replacing drywall and flooring. “It was a huge blessing.”
“My daughter got her check and I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Blankenship says. “I was like, ‘Did you cash the check? Was it real?’ And she's like, ‘Yeah, it's real.’”
“Word spread from there,” says Powers, GRI, an agent with Old Colony, REALTORS®, in Beckley, W.Va.
Flood Showed “No Mercy” for Southern West Virginia
Through her ministry, Blankenship sees the neediest in one of the poorest counties in one of the poorest states. And on Feb. 15, that need became all-consuming.
That day, steady rain and the overflowing Tug Fork River overtook McDowell County streets. Water reached car windows, and in some spots, the tops of underpasses. Like an unwelcome guest, flood water crept up stoops and seeped through doors. The governor declared a state of emergency in thirteen counties, and President Trump issued a major disaster declaration for some regions—including McDowell County.
Even for homes with flood insurance, the wait for an insurance check can be brutal for families and individuals who need money quickly for temporary housing and essentials. That’s where the REALTORS® Relief Foundation steps in, providing housing-related assistance to communities impacted by disasters.
How the Foundation Works
RRF receives requests for assistance from local and state REALTOR® associations. When RRF grants money, the local and state associations are responsible for reviewing applications and distributing funds to disaster victims.
Grants are made possible through the generosity of REALTORS®, state and local associations and industry partners, and the National Association of REALTORS® covers 100% of the administrative costs so that every dollar donated goes directly to victims of disasters.
After the February flooding, RRF gave the West Virginia Association of REALTORS® about $96,000. As president of the state association’s local relief fund, Paige Powers, along with Sarah Milam and state association president Alisa Jackson, were among the NAR members who stepped up to distribute funds.
“When I see a need, I just can’t sit on my hands,” Powers says.
Having earned Blankenship’s trust, Powers also gained a helping hand. God’s Grace Ministry became a clearinghouse for RRF applicants. The entire area has a poor internet connection so Powers and Milam brought paper applications, helped flood victims fill them out, took them back to the state association office two hours away, and scanned and submitted them. When checks arrived, they drove back to Welch and the process would repeat.
“I did that about every week until the end of the grant money,” she says.
Boots on the Ground
“So many people take advantage of people in dark situations, and this was the opposite of that—this was light and life,” Blankenship says. “One lady said, ‘Thank God I can buy some insulation.’”
She adds, “The REALTOR® association coming in was a huge shock to our system. I had no idea anything like this existed.”
It wasn’t just about the money.
“The girl knows how to work a shovel, and she got out there and she did the work,” Blankenship says of Powers. “She got in, she hustled food, she carried meals, she carried water. She went to places where nobody else can go and said, ‘You know, I'm going to put my boots on. We can walk through this creek to get these babies those diapers.’
“You'll never find enough time for me to sing the praises of what this team of REALTORS® came in here and done,” Blankenship says. “We may have lost most everything during the flood, and it was tragic. There's no sun to shine on that. But I will tell you that Paige will be my lifelong friend forever. She's stuck with me now—her and Sarah.”
When New Mexico’s Golf Destination Burned Down
Blankenship learned what thousands of families have experienced over the past 25 years: Through RRF funding, real estate professionals who are REALTORS® deliver a financial cushion—and more—to communities following a disaster.
In June 2024, James Russ II and his wife were at a real estate convention out of town, when he heard fires had erupted near his home in the mountainous, golf town of Ruidoso, N.M. After reading that the fires were a safe distance from his house, he shoved all worries to the back of his mind and tried to focus on the convention.
Then a Ring doorbell notification brought those worries to the fore. His friend Phil stood in his driveway, and announced he’d come to evacuate Russ’s dad.
“I said, ‘but I've been watching the fire all day on Watch Duty and different apps, and it's not that close to the house,’” Russ, broker-owner of RE/MAX Sierra Blanca Realty, recalls. “And he's like, ‘Jim, it's right here and I'm going to get your dad.’”
His friend helped evacuate Russ’s dad and pets. “Through the night, I was just a wreck,” Russ says.
In the early morning, he asked a firefighter friend to check on his house and waited for the call.
“He said, ‘I'm not going to paint a pretty picture. The whole neighborhood’s gone,’” Russ says. “I was like, ‘your house too?’ And he's like, ‘yep, my house is gone too.’”
When Russ and his wife finally returned, the entire town was cordoned off and inaccessible. They had nothing but the two carry-ons they had deplaned with.
“It was just horrible,” Russ says. Then he saw his house. His wife’s car was destroyed; heirlooms from his great grandparents were reduced to ash.
About a week later, Ruidoso flooded, devastating what little remained. Three people died, including two children. A lumberyard, entire homes and a mobile home park washed away into the Ruidoso River.
Russ jumped into action. He contacted his state association, which reached out to the REALTORS® Relief Foundation for help. The foundation provided $500,000 to the Ruidoso community following the fires, with grants totaling $2,500 per household.
Despite losing his own house, Russ focused on others. He tried to spread the word, contacting friends who worked in local government and the fire chief. He spoke on the radio and posted on Facebook. He went to trailer camps with applications, not letting language barriers stand in the way, and served on the committee to approve victims’ applications.
“I would have sat there stuck forever,” he says. “I just wanted to climb under a rock. So, when that opportunity came along from REALTORS® Relief Foundation to help out, I knew that it was a blessing for sure.”
When Ruidoso experienced another catastrophic flood in July 2025, RRF gave an additional $125,000 for victims.
“I'll definitely be investing in RRF the rest of my life. I know that—as much as I can,” says Russ, who just celebrated the framing of his new house going up. “People are not very trusting of [real estate agents]. RRF shows everybody that we genuinely do care, that we're some of the first people on the ground.”
Nearly 25 Years of Answering the Call
Since its founding after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., RRF has distributed $50 million to more than 26,000 households across 49 states and territories. This year alone, RRF came to the aid of nearly 4,000 households in 23 disasters.
Its mission and impact inspired Dave Legaz, broker at Keller Williams Realty Landmark in New York, to volunteer as an RRF director.
“It shows that we're standing shoulder to shoulder with them in their time of need,” Legaz says. “We're not there with commission breath. We're there assisting families with their housing needs financially.”
Incredibly, the foundation has never had to turn away a community’s request for help, and its board never wants to. The foundation is hoping to commemorate its 25-year milestone by inspiring 25,000 NAR members, 500 state and local REALTOR® associations and 100 industry partners to donate.
“For 25 years, REALTORS® Relief Foundation has been the first light after disaster,” Greg Hrabcak, president of the foundation, says. “To keep that promise for the next 25 years, we hope every REALTOR®, every association and every partner will stand with us.”
“We want to make RRF the REALTORS®’ charity of choice,” Legaz says, and hopes the foundation can one day “live off of its investments.”
Legaz knows a thing or two about responding in times of crisis. Before committing to real estate full-time, Legaz served with New York’s finest for 18 years.
As a sergeant for the New York Police Department, Legaz remembers exactly where he was on the morning of 9/11—taking his third-grade son to school.
“I didn't get to work until after both towers got hit,” he recalls.
Legaz led a platoon into the devastation and witnessed the collapse of the World Trade Center North Tower. He stayed for five days with other first responders, trying to comb the wreckage for survivors.
To this day, Legaz suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, recalling the deafening roar of the North Tower’s collapse and the massive cloud of toxic debris that turned the blue sky gray.
“After 9/11, as with many people who suffer survivor’s guilt, you look for a purpose on why God still has me around, and the REALTORS® Relief Foundation has given me that purpose and that joy to bring hope back when a disaster strikes,” he says.
Nearly 25 years since its inception, the foundation continues to be a beacon of light to communities and the real estate professionals who cherish them, like Paige Powers.
“There's no other organization that I know of that can get money in the hands of people in a disaster as fast as what they did—and RRF got it to us fast,” Powers says.
“There's no other feeling like it—to be able to help,” she says.
