IREM EVP and CEO Russ Salzman, Elizabeth Smith, and CBRE regional vice chairman Tony Smith (a past IREM president) enjoy the evening at IREM’s annual Fall Leadership Conference “Party with a Purpose” in Orlando, which raised $23k to support the IREM Foundation.

During the past year, the Foundation underwrote nearly $27k in student grants, materials, and activities designed to promote property management careers in colleges and universities. It also provided 142 scholarships worth more than $117k for students in need taking IREM courses.

IREM members also take part in a community service project at the conference, and this year’s beneficiary was Clean the World Foundation, which collects and recycles soap and shampoo products discarded by nearly 2,000 partners in the hospitality industry. It then distributes those and other hygiene products to impoverished people in 96 countries suffering from high death rates due to pneumonia and cholera, as well as the homeless and families in transition in North America. Above, IREM members Lisa Komppa, Cathryn O’Hare, Denis Archambault, and Ron Penner assemble some of the 700 hygiene kits.