Community Involvement

Early in his career, our founder, Bill Rouse sometimes had occasion to rely on the financial help and good counsel of a friend and colleague named Jim Cohen.  One day, after a particularly generous offer of assistance, Bill asked him, “Jim – you just give, and give, and give.  How do you do it?”

“Bill,” Mr. Cohen said, “The more I give, the harder it is to catch up with what has been given to me.”

Bill told this story often at employee gatherings.  It was a simple story, but it could take him 20 minutes or longer, and while he was speaking you could hear a pin drop in the room.  If the meeting were taking place at a restaurant or ballroom the waiters would stop and listen, transfixed. When Bill finished, he was often overwhelmed with emotion.  Message received.

Liberty is a national and international company dedicated to giving back to our communities on a local level.  Our local people know best what their communities need and how to deliver it.  Some examples:

VIRGINIA BEACH TEAM'S ANNUAL SUPPORT FOR AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY’S RELAY FOR LIFE

Liberty Property Trust’s Virginia Beach office continues to fulfill its yearly commitment to support the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. For 2006, its 12-person relay team walked all night on Friday April 7th through Saturday April 8th at the Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheatre and donated $2,300.00 that it raised through cookie sales and generous vendor and tenant donations. During the last six years, Liberty has donated over $10,000 to Relay for Life.

HURRICANE KATRINA RELIEF

Liberty employees dug deep to donate $20,000 to the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina relief fund.  This amount was matched by the company.  Liberty’s home office employees mailed 36 boxes of clothing and other supplies for the Dream Center Church in Donaldsonville, LA. Liberty’s home office also collected two truckloads of necessary supplies and the company funded trucking costs for shipping the items.

BILL ROUSE DAY OF CARING

Liberty’s founder, Bill Rouse, was as committed to community service and involvement as he was to real estate development. When he passed away in 2003, the 350 employees of Liberty sought a way to honor his memory and launched the annual Bill Rouse Day of Caring to be held on the Friday before his birthday, June 19th, each year. On that Friday every office in the United States and United Kingdom are closed so that everyone can be part of a daylong community activity ending with a dinner to celebrate their day of giving back to their community and, of course, to raise a toast to Bill.

MICHIGAN HOSTS CARNIVAL FOR FOSTER AND ADOPTIVE FAMILIES

The Michigan Regional office of Liberty Property Trust spent their Day of Caring working together to build something not usually on their development list: new families. The office of 20 employees staffs the Summer Kick-off Carnival presented by Orchard Children’s Services aimed at providing a welcoming atmosphere where foster and adopted children meet their new parents. The Liberty employees host the booths so Orchard’s experienced staff members can concentrate on facilitating the important introductions. The carnival is always full of fun for kids with face painting, jewelry making, food, carnival games, basketball, and more. Kids can also choose to take home any number of books donated by the Liberty employees.

LEHIGH VALLEY TEAM REVITALIZES CASA GUADALUPE CENTER

The 30 employees of the Liberty Lehigh Valley office helped to visually revitalize Casa Guadalupe Center by painting several of the facility’s community rooms and rejuvenating the outside gardens in the courtyard. The center offers services for children, youth, adults and elderly residents in the areas of health, education, and social service.

HOUSTON TEAM TRANSFORMS RESIDENCE FOR SUNSHINE KIDS

The Houston office worked with the Sunshine Kids, a non-profit organization that provides free group activities and emotional support for kids with cancer. Sunshine Kids recently purchased a townhouse that needed a lot of cleaning and painting by the Liberty Houston team. It is adjacent to their current facility for extra storage, office and activity space for the kids as well as serve as additional rooms for overflow from the Ronald McDonald house when families need to stay overnight for treatment at Texas Children's Hospital and the MD Anderson Cancer Center.

GREATER PHILADELPHIA TEAM REVITALIZES PHILADELPHIA TREASURE

Liberty’s three Philadelphia regional offices in conjunction with the New Jersey offices worked this year at the Smith Memorial Playground and Playhouse. Smiths was opened in 1899, and has provided safe, creative and fun recreational facilities free of charge to the children in the Philadelphia area. The Playground had been closed recently but our efforts helped to prepare the entire facility for a grand re-opening. We cleaned, sanded, painted, restored, donated, built, cleared, planted, and rejuvenated this special gift to Philadelphia’s children.

U.K. TEAM CONTINUES LEGACY OF SUPPORT FOR SPECIAL STABLES

The Leybourne Riding School for the Disabled in the United Kingdom was supported by Bill Rouse, Jim Lutz and Dave Hammers when they were first setting up Liberty’s Kings Hill mixed-use development in the late 1980’s.Twenty years later, our UK team worked to improve the waiting room, viewing gallery, toilets and landscaping benefiting the disabled children and adults who take over 13,000 lessons a year at Leybourne. “A great day supporting a worthy cause!”

ORLANDO TEAM RESTORES FURNITURE FOR THE HOMELESS

When the homeless make the transition from a shelter to a residence, they arrive with nothing. Stripped of the essentials of a home - the chairs, tables, dishes, bedding, lamps, and rugs - homelife for the homeless becomes minimal.  Liberty’s Orlando office spent a day at the Mustard Seed Furniture Bank putting together furniture and organizing the furnishings that will help rebuild these disrupted lives.

MINNESOTA TEAM IMPROVES HOMES FOR DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED

Opportunity Partners, a Minneapolis nonprofit organization that provides personalized education, housing and employment services for developmentally disabled adults, has 20 residences located throughout the Twin Cities to improve their clients’ self sufficiency at work, at home and at life. The Minnesota team worked on three of the residential homes doing much-needed painting and landscaping.

TAMPA TEAM LANDSCAPES NEIGHBOR, CRESTWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

For the Crestwood Elementary School, a neighbor of Liberty’s Woodland Corporate Center, the Tampa office created an outdoor reading area complete with a mulched path, new grass, an outdoor reading table and landscaping. To commemorate the day, a marker with the school’s logo and a dedication to Bill was permanently installed and recognized by the principal, Dianna Smith.

WISCONSIN TEAM SUPPORTS AMERICA’S SECOND HARVEST

America’s Second Harvest of Wisconsin distributes food to more than 1,100 non-profit programs in more than 35 counties in the Eastern half of Wisconsin. Liberty’s Milwaukee office is a generous supporter of their vital programs including food pantries, soup kitchens, meal programs, emergency shelters, day care centers and senior centers.

GREENVILLE TEAM LANDSCAPES HABITAT HOME

Nine employees of the Greenville office, together with The Fourth Presbyterian Church in Greenville, helped Habitat for Humanity detail the grounds of a newly built home located in Greenville. The landscaping project at Saluda Bluff included planting trees, shrubs, flowers and rolling sod.

JACKSONVILLE TEAM WORKS WITH HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

12 employees of the Jacksonville office worked together to build something not usually on their development list: new homes. The office of 12 employees worked with Beaches Habitat (Jacksonville’s local Habitat for Humanity) on its new subdivision project currently underway in Scheidel Court. When completed, the subdivision will feature nine new town homes.

BOCA RATON AND BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - WORK WITH HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

Substandard housing is a problem that plagues individuals, communities and entire nations around the world. Habitat for Humanity is solving the problem of substandard housing. Habitat for Humanity is such a success because the organization brings together people from all walks of life--and together we build. We build houses. We build dreams. We build hope. We build lives.

NORTH CAROLINA BEAUTIFIES BATTERED WOMEN’S SHELTER

The team from High Point spent a day digging, mowing and planting at a very special retreat for battered women who need a place of safety but also beauty to rebuild their shattered lives.