What makes a good neighbor?
Is it the family that invites your children over for playtime with theirs? Is it the couple that hosts barbecues for the whole cul-de-sac every summer, or the parent who always has a care basket ready when someone is sick?
A good neighbor is certainly all of those things, but there are extraordinary people who take the mission of loving their fellow human to a new level.
Kevin Brown | NAR
Every year, the National Association of Realtors honors those people with its Good Neighbor Award, which includes a $10,000 grand prize that five winners can use to keep their work going.
This year’s winners are NAR members who hail from Phoenix; Richmond, Virginia; Omaha, Nebraska; San Antonio; and Jackson, Mississippi, and have all made indelible impacts on the most vulnerable of us: children fighting cancer, veterans struggling to transition to civilian life, people with disabilities disconnected from recreational sports and unhoused people who lack access to basic hygiene.
“This year’s Good Neighbor Awards winners saw a need in their communities and refused to look away,” NAR President Kevin Brown said in a press release. “Each of them has built something lasting out of compassion and determination. Their work shows that Realtors do far more than help people find a home. They help build the communities around it, and we’re honored to celebrate them.”
The following interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
Shawnee Doherty, Hope Through Hollis Foundation
Phoenix Realtor Shawnee Doherty has experienced a parent’s worst nightmare twice — the loss of a child.
Shawnee Doherty
In 2005, Doherty went into premature labor at 24 weeks. Her daughter survived only 14 hours. Eleven years later, her seven-year-old son Hollis was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), an aggressive pediatric brain cancer, which led to his death nine months later.
Both times, Doherty and her husband, Shane, chose to transform their grief into compassion for families experiencing similar circumstances. The couple raised thousands for the March of Dimes in honor of their daughter and started the Hope Through Hollis Foundation in memory of their son.
The Hope Through Hollis Foundation raises awareness about DIPG and supports research to improve treatments and outcomes for patients. The Dohertys also donated Hollis’s tumor tissue to researchers, so they could use their findings to better understand DIPG.
“It was still somewhat unusual or just starting to become popular, I guess, for parents to donate their tumor tissue if their son or daughter passed away,” she said. “That was really starting to propel science. Because of where the tumor develops, doctors weren’t really able to biopsy it while the child was alive.”
“They can do that now, 10 years later, but back then, they weren’t,” she added. “We decided that if Hollis didn’t survive, we’d donate his tumor and start funding research.”
The foundation’s efforts have yielded more than $2 million in research funding for the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix, which treated Hollis, and a growing number of research institutes in other states. It also hosts an annual golf tournament, and the Dohertys often personally counsel families who’ve been thrust into the world of pediatric cancer.
Doherty said the funds will help the Hope Through Hollis Foundation reach more families and help more researchers. She also said the award will boost their credibility and open the door to additional grants.
“This means a lot. Getting awards for production, you know, as a Realtor is one thing, but to get an award for what I do outside of my work is something else entirely because the foundation means so much to me,” she said. “The additional money will allow us to fund additional research to help eradicate this disease.”
Sue Farrell, Boots to Suits
Sue Farrell started Boots to Suits in honor of her husband, Joe, a former Navy submarine officer who dedicated his time to helping young sailors transition from military to civilian life. Joe had served during the Cold War, using his nuclear engineering background to help with reconnaissance missions off the coasts of Russia for more than a decade.
Sue Farrell
Joe’s transition was easy, Farrell said, as his engineering skills were in high demand. However, the road wasn’t as easy for the men and women he met after retirement — they struggled with interviews and explaining how their skills would be valuable in a corporate setting. They often didn’t have the right wardrobes either, with their closets mainly filled with casual wear or uniforms.
“When I started dating Joe, he was a corporate executive and a single father of three. I was a single mother of two and a real estate agent,” she told Inman. “To make a long story short, I fell madly in love with the guy, started dating him and learned about his early life in the military.”
Those stories flooded Farrell’s mind when Joe died in 2014. Her husband left behind a collection of designer suits, and she thought there was no better way to honor Joe’s service than to donate his clothes to veterans in need. Farrell contacted the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Wounded Warrior Project, the McGuire’s Veterans Hospital and the Virginia Transitioning Assistance Program for help on how to bring her vision to life.
“They jumped on the chance [to help], and they do the vetting for me,” she said. “That’s how it all got started. And so far, by the end of this month, I will have actually dressed over 7,200 men and women.”
Farrell sorts through every donation that arrives at Boots to Suits and ensures that veterans only receive the best, which includes outfits from designers Brioni, Valentino and Oscar de la Renta. The organization also provides one-on-one tailoring sessions, so everyone gets a perfect fit.
“We feel very privileged to be working with these very deserving patriots to make them look and feel good about themselves because it’s a nervous time for them. The military is all they know,” she said. “It’s a little bit intimidating to take a plunge out to the real world … I get many messages about that first interview and how impressed employers were with how they appeared and their confidence. That keeps us going.”
Farrell said Boots to Suits is size-inclusive, but they don’t always get enough donations to cover veterans who are outliers in height or weight. Now, with an extra $10,000 in the bank, the organization can source clothing to meet those needs.
“We’re humbled by it and appreciate it very much,” she said. “We’ll put the money to good use because it’ll be going right on the backs of our very deserving patriots.”
Weston Jenkins, Disabled Outdoorsmen USA
Weston Jenkins, a Texan through and through, has always loved the outdoors. He began going on deer hunts as a child, thrilled by the brisk morning air and the challenge to stay quiet so as not to scare off deer. However, what he loved the most was time with his older cousin, TJ, who lived with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. TJ increasingly relied on mobility aids for hunts and other activities, but that never extinguished his zest for nature.
Weston Jenkins
“Ever since I was about seven, eight or nine years old, I was very attached to TJ,” he said. “As we continued to get older, our bond grew a lot stronger. I still wanted to just be around him as much as I could. We were at the family ranch one day, and I said, ‘TJ, we need to start something up, man.'”
Jenkins and his cousin talked about how being an outdoorsman helped TJ live longer than the 28-year life expectancy for Duchenne. The duo thought they could help other people with disabilities find another “bridge to really enjoy their lives” without worrying about the cost of recreational activities.
The Realtor was a junior at Texas State when he started Disabled Outdoorsmen USA and leaned on his business professors to help him navigate the specifics of running a 501(c)(3) and secure funding.
“I actually went to 13 different banks to try to get a loan, which obviously for a nonprofit doesn’t really make a lot of sense,” he said. “But I found this one gentleman at this small bank that had a family member with a disability, and he gave me a $5,000 loan on a low interest rate to start the nonprofit.”
Jenkins turned that $5,000 loan into a multimillion-dollar nonprofit that has helped 290 people enjoy more than 190 trips across Utah, Minnesota, South Carolina and Alabama since 2017. One of his favorite excursions included TJ and another attendee, Sydney, who lived with a different form of muscular dystrophy.
“I think what’s really important about these trips is the camaraderie,” he said. “[TJ and Sydney] both had a different form of muscular dystrophy, and so just watching [them] talk before the hunt, after the hunt, you know, just really throughout, was really cool and humbling.”
TJ died last year at the age of 36, but his memory continues to fuel Jenkins.
The Realtor said the funds will help Disabled Outdoorsmen USA buy modified bikes and other equipment that people can rent for solo adventures. However, his biggest dream is to open the TJ Hope Ranch, which will be operated by outdoorsmen with disabilities and be Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant.
“We really try to be their backbone to do anything outdoors, and so it’s really going to go back to our mission to empower our mission statement, fuel our mission statement to get more people outdoors,” he said.
Jay Miralles, 50 Mile March Foundation
For 10 years, Jay Miralles gave all he had to the U.S. Air Force. But when he retired in 1998, the transition was harder than he ever imagined — he struggled to find the same sense of purpose he had in the military, went through a difficult divorce and became homeless for almost a year.
Jay Miralles
As his life fell apart, Miralles held onto one thing: walking.
The veteran eventually found his footing again, moonlighting as a part-time on-air personality at an Omaha radio station before getting into the insurance and financial services industry. He became a Realtor in 2019, and a year later, he hosted his first walk: 50 miles from Lincoln to Omaha in honor of his 50th birthday and his fellow veterans.
Miralles and his six friends wanted to raise $2,500, but ended up raising 10 times that amount. What was meant to be a one-off experience became the 50 Mile March Foundation, which helps veterans find housing and mental health resources and funds other veteran-focused foundations.
“As with any good things, sometimes they stumble across you,” he told Inman. “We raised $25,000, and then someone said to us, ‘Hey, are you guys going to do that again?’ Another person said, ‘I would really like to join you next year.’ So many people wanted to pitch in, and I said, ‘Wow, this is something.'”
The 50 Mile March Foundation has hosted seven annual walks, drawing more than 175 participants from 18 states. Each walker pledges to raise at least $2,500 and often does 600 to 700 hours of training in the year leading up to the 22-hour walk. Every event begins at the Nebraska State Capitol, where participants lie on the concrete steps for 22 minutes, representing the number of veterans who die by suicide every day.
Miralles said the walk is mentally and physically taxing, with most walkers nearing their breaking point at mile 30. However, he said it’s amazing to see how everyone encourages each other to keep going, creating a community that lasts well beyond the finish line.
“The thought is, ‘Okay, I want to step forward and help veterans,'” he said. “But the byproduct is, they’re getting help themselves. They’re connecting to a community. They’re feeling that they’re moving. They’re getting healthier. Their mental health is improving. They’re connecting with real people. They’re dropping their phone and having conversations that are impactful.”
“And that’s what I love about this: we’re all different. We are not red. We are not blue. We are red, white and blue. It brings a lot of people together,” he said.
Miralles said the grant will help fund the 50 Mile March Foundation’s Community of Hope, which would serve as a transition zone for veterans. They’ll have access to on-site housing, mental health and addiction recovery services, and employment help. Most of all, he said, the Community of Hope will remind veterans they’re not alone.
They already own a seven-acre parcel with two homes; however, the ultimate goal includes 22 transitional tiny homes and a 25,000-square-foot community center.
“Today, as a Realtor, I have the privilege of helping others to find a place called home,” he said. “And especially being in the position I was, I will never forget my brothers and sisters who have served this country and are deserving of the same piece of the American Dream.”
Teresa Renkenberger
The final winner, Shower Power founder Teresa Renkenberger, was unavailable for an interview, but sent a quote about her foundation, which serves 160 unhoused people every Friday in Jackson, Mississippi, giving them access to a mobile shower, hygiene kits, clean clothing, food and other crucial services.
“I am very humbled and honored to receive this recognition,” she said over email. “Real estate has given me a career that I love, and Shower Power has given me a purpose that touches my heart in ways words cannot express. I believe God places us where we can make a difference, and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity.”
