Especially this time of year it is impossible to ignore the less fortunate in our community. Our mailboxes are filled with cards and letters soliciting donations for homeless humans and pets, folks with disabilities that run the gamut, people in need of food, shelter, clothing, mental health or drug counseling, etc., etc.

Not that these people and pets don't need help. Of course they do. Perhaps the research has concluded that, during these holidays of conspicuous consumption, people can be more easily influenced to contribute to a worthy cause.

All year-round folks in communities around the world are in need of assistance. And all year long, many of you are ready to help, either with donations of your spare time, spare money or by the expertise you can provide because of your own history.

We are no different. Our Realtor and non-Realtor members of the Coeur d'Alene Association of Realtors are working all year long to make sure that we re-invest in the community that places so much trust in us and enables us to earn a living by plying our trade.

Our Community Outreach committee is made up largely of non-Realtors. Throughout our organization we see home inspectors, bankers, title and escrow officers, insurance agents, appraisers, landscapers and Realtors gathering donations and organizing events to raise money for worthy causes. Like you, we like to help.

This year our association helped needy children in our area schools by providing essential nutrition for them to take home during Spring Break through the district's backpack program. Our members bought non-perishable nutrition and met at the association's office for an afternoon to fill backpacks we purchased with enough snacks to ensure kids would not go hungry without the school provided meals they rely on when school is in session.

We all welcome the Boys & Girls Club of Kootenai County and many businesses have stepped up to the plate to ensure they got off to a running start here. Our association heeded the rallying cry too and hosted a wine tasting event that enabled us to make a significant contribution to their success.

This summer, our annual golf tournament was attended by more than 100 of our affiliate, sponsor and Realtor members, many of who dedicated dozens of hours individually to organize, promote and stage the event. The revenue generated from this was proudly presented to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Recently, several of our members gathered on a chilly morning to solicit even more donations from our generous group. In just a couple of hours, with frozen, outstretched hands and frosty noses, we gathered an additional $2,500 in spare change for the Community Action Partnership to buy food for our area food banks.

Many real estate, title, insurance and bank offices donate conspicuously, as they should. The money raised from those same people through our membership is money on top of the already generous giving of our members. Some of our members don't have large staffs or offices from which to raise funds yet, they all chip in countless hours and dollars, year-round, to demonstrate their commitment to our community. In fact, our members urged us to send a sizable donation to provide aid to the victims of Hurricane Sandy which we readily did.

So whatever you celebrate this season, thank you for celebrating our worthy causes all year long. There will always be need, but as long as there are giving people to share their time, money and knowledge, our wish is that the pain of that need will be less.

Trust an expert...call a Realtor. Call your Realtors or visit www.cdarealtors.com to search properties on the Multiple Listing Service or to find a Realtor member who will represent your best interests.

Kim Cooper is a real estate broker and the spokesman for the Coeur d'Alene Association of Realtors. Kim and the association invite your feedback and input for this column. You may contact them by writing to the Coeur d'Alene Association of Realtors, 409 W. Neider, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83815 or by calling (208) 667-0664.