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39 August 2024 August 2024 » C O V E R S T O R Y comprehensive curriculum that encour- ages each student from Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 to strive for excellence in mind, body, and human spirit." "I grew up very poor, but when I got to Haiti, I saw poverty like I had never seen before," Hamilton recalls. "While there, my job was to interact with the local pop- ulation, NGOs, and key communicators. I met Carmen and the rest of the staff at the academy, which was founded by Carmen's parents. They really cared about the peo- ple there and wanted to give back where they could make a difference. With Bron, we were giving to charities to veterans, So- roptimist clubs, and animal shelters. In so doing, we saw most of what we gave going to overhead and very little reaching those in need. Carmen remembered me from my time in Haiti, and we felt like what we could contribute would help make a difference to people who really needed it the most." To date, Bron associates have given more than $90,000 to the Haitian school and has donated more than $200,000 to a program designed to provide schooling and testing for Haitian students living in poverty. Hamilton said that many of these students have gone on to attend major universities. Bron also provided the school with a generator that could power it and provide excess electrical power that the school could sell to its neighbors to pay for more diesel fuel. The Proof Is in the Product H amilton said that, in his evaluation, many of the municipalities have only gotten more diligent in their over- sight over the years, and those fines for noncompliance can add up quickly. "Municipalities have gotten much stricter," Hamilton said. "Why? Because the fines are huge." "Everyone felt the pain from the meltdown in '08," Imwold noted. "Con- stituents are looking at the cities and the counties to say, 'How are you going to prevent these problems in the future?'" Even staying on top of compliance doesn't prevent every issue, however. The Bron team noted that, in some cases, the municipalities may genuinely not fully understand the foreclosure process or the waterfall of steps that dictate what Bron can do and when they or their ser- vicer clients can do it. For example, they often get calls to mow a property that may be in foreclosure. Legally, however, Bron can't enter or maintain the property until it's gone through the REO or fore- closure process. "It takes time to explain it to them, and most of the time we can work through that, but it's really about our training with our staff," Imwold explained. "You have to know your audience, where they're coming from, and who you're talking to. The city just wants to get that grass cut, and we have to explain to them, 'Your constituent still lives there. We can't enter the property. If that changes, we will let you know.'" "At the end of the day, registrations, if done properly, are a very good tool for the municipality to get things done on a property," Imwold said. "The key is learning, what are their expectations? And then communicating back to them [about the situation and what Bron can or can't do to remedy it]. We've built our system so that as soon as a property goes into REO, we let them know. And guess what? Now stuff can happen. We can fix that fence. We can get those things done. It's just communicating expecta- tions with the municipality of what can happen." Hamilton summarized, "I always tell my clients, if you want to know how we do, just call a municipality. Ask them how Bron does." "So many people have grown and moved departments through there, so they know that we put our money where our mouth is. Everything is available for you to grab." —Eric Moore, Chief Information Officer, Bron The students of Sonlight Academy express their thanks for Bron's donations.