Total Expert team members took a trip to Louisiana earlier this year to help the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity organization. In partnership with the nonprofit, the team was able to rebuild a home that was destroyed by Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 Atlantic hurricane that made landfall in Louisiana at the end of August last year.
“It’s pretty incredible what you can accomplish when a team of people band together,” said Corinne Seltz, leadership and development manager at Total Expert. “In just two days, we framed an entire house in support of hurricane victims. What’s more, it was a natural team-building endeavor. “With our employees spanning across the country and many working from home full-time, we’ve lost the typical face-to-face interactions.
Our employees left New Orleans with a great sense of accomplishment and new relationships formed. We also made a cash donation to Habitat for Humanity to help them expand their efforts,” she added.
Touching on how the team was able to come together for this cause, Seltz said, “We couldn’t be more proud of our employees who stepped up and made the trip to New Orleans to make a difference in others’ lives. Being in the financial services industry puts a whole new meaning to giving the gift of homeownership — particularly to those impacted by a devastating event.”
While Seltz explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has played a role in Total Expert’s ability to partner with nonprofits for events like this, it hasn’t slowed down their volunteer efforts.
“If anything, it’s sparked a greater need to support nonprofits of all kinds and prompted us to be creative in how we give back. If in-person activities aren’t an option, we source other avenues such as virtual food drives and mailing materials to local organizations,” Seltz said.
Looking ahead, Total Expert is far from done when it comes to giving back. With the company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Seltz said they are particularly excited about working with the Habitat for Humanity Twin Cities, and given the response from the New Orleans trip, they anticipate even more employees signing up to put their homebuilding skills to use.
“Total Expert is rooted in empowering financial institutions to form deeper relationships.” Seltz said, “These efforts have allowed us to take relationship-building to the next level.”
This piece on Total Expert was originally featured in the April Issue of HousingWire Magazine. To read the full issue, click here.
