As a teenager my Dad and I would visit elderly patients at nursing homes around Des Moines, Iowa most Sundays. The visits were usually under an hour and we would simply spend some time with people in need. Some of the patients had supportive families; some hadn’t received visitors for months. Some suffered from disease, others were only very old. Some people were sharp, but their body had failed years ago. And others seemed as if they were far away, in another land, deeply dreaming of days past.

I came to appreciate my father’s sense of service to the community at an early age and I wish I devoted more time to it today.

Perhaps it was because of my history of making a difference in the lives of others, I was moved a few months ago when Channing, the Director of the Washington AIDS Partnership, presented to us. “Us” in this case was The Capital Tennis Association of which we’re a sponsor. Each year, the Association holds a tennis tournament in the fall and the proceeds are directed to a charitable organization. http://capclassic.org/Home_Page.html for more information.

Channing brought with him half a dozen young people who had just participated in the year long Americorps DC program. The program placed people in 12 agencies in the DC Metro area for a year of service to those agencies. Many of the receiving agencies are organizations you have heard of. For a list visit http://washingtonaidspartnership.org/Network_placements.asp

It was a moving presentation and it quickly became clear that the year had changed these individual’s lives and they had impacted many others in a positive way.

The Capital Tennis Association decided to select Washington AIDS Partnership’s Americorps Program as the recipient of the charitable funds for 2008. See http://washingtonaidspartnership.org/Americorps.htm for more details.

This year the Association has committed to raising more then $20,000 to give to Washington AIDS Partnership, and I’m proud to announce that Brandon Green & Associates, in partnership with David Kanstoroom of North American Title and Rob Riggins of Washington Home Mortgage is giving $10,000 to support the event.

I challenge the entire BGA family to raise $5000. Please, if you can make a donation contact me and I’ll fill you in on the details. I’ll post an update blog later as to our progress thus far.

Last fall we were honored to participate as lead sponsor for the Capital Classic tennis tournament. The tournament started 16 years ago and each year gives substantial amounts of money to a local charity. This fall $19,500 was given to Washington AIDS Partnership, a grant-making organization that leads a private sector response to HIV/AIDS in the area. Our sponsorship allowed Capital Classic to give the largest donation to date.

We firmly believe in giving back to our community and are proud to give money to organizations like Washington AIDS Partnership through fundraising efforts facilitated by Capital Classic. We will be sponsoring the tournament again in the fall of 2008. If you know of any local charities that could benefit from the donation this year, please email or call me.

Click here to read the article in Washington Business Journal.

And you can read about this worthy cause on its website.