A Force of Good

The Bozeman housing boom means the local Windermere office has more to give back.

BY CORINNE WHITING

WITH A FLOW OF NEW RESIDENTS WHO CAN work remotely in a booming college town close to trails and slopes, Montana’s Windermere Bozeman-Downtown office is busy selling everything from condos to ranches, as well as assisting first-time homebuyers.

The recent influx has benefited the Windermere Foundation, too. Since opening in 2016, Bozeman-Downtown has donated to the Foundation monthly. Every agent contributes $10 of each sale to the account, which the office then gives to local nonprofits. “Our donations to the Foundation have increased significantly along with the increase of sales,” says Operations Manager Casie Panasuk.

“I think it’s really awesome to work for an office that cares about these things—and at a corporate level,” Panasuk says. She finds it refreshing to witness “the entire way Windemere does business; they’re all about personal relationships.” Rather than merely focusing on numbers and cold calling, she says, the company emphasizes real connections that genuinely make clients want to return.

The office takes part in the company’s annual Community Service Day, with projects ranging from throwing a barbecue for local nursing home residents to doing yard work, cleaning, and painting for Cancer Support Community Montana. One year, the Bozeman team worked with Liberty Place, an organization that helps individuals who have suffered brain injuries retain their highest level of independence; another year, they teamed up with Eagle Mount, an organization that focuses on “celebrating abilities while supporting disabilities.”

Unable to do in-person volunteering due to the pandemic last year, the Bozeman office collaborated with Thrive, a program that places parent liaisons in Bozeman district schools to determine which community members need the most assistance. The Thrive team then suggested 100 families that should receive meals donated by Outback Steakhouse. They also participated in a gift card campaign: each employee filmed a short video spotlighting a small business of their choosing and encouraged other community members to “buy local,” too.

For this year’s Community Service Day, the office prepared a transitional home for Family Promise, a nonprofit that helps unhoused families, by cleaning, painting, and weeding and mowing the yard. “We really wanted to do something to show our community we are here,” Panasuk says. “We are a force of good.”

Learn more about the Windermere Foundation at windermerefoundation.com.