EquityPro is known for helping people make smart real estate investment decisions. But the company seems to take its job one step further. Whether working with clients to help them save for retirement or meet other financial goals, the team behind EquityPro seems to have a unique attribute that is hard to find these days—a service mentality. A quick search on the internet will quickly display the seven traits of a service mentality, but the bottom line is this…a service mentality is a genuine desire to look beyond yourself to help others. And the team at EquityPro embodies this hard-to-find attribute not just with their clients, whom they refer to as part of the family, but in the community where they work. As part of a national effort dubbed, “Giving Tuesdays” EquityPro set out to serve the community—quite literally.

After a company retreat, the team agreed that they wanted to find a way to serve the community at least once a month. Bill Lane, acquisitions associate says, "We are trying to do more community outreach in the areas where we are located. We cover the whole state of Florida—Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando—and we want to give back to these communities.” There were a lot of ideas of how to give back, but the one that stood out to the entire team was feeding the homeless. And so the EquityPro team in Tampa put on their service hats and took action.

The team wanted to kick off their part in Giving Tuesdays with a breakfast to feed the hungry in the community. So, Lane reached out to a food kitchen in downtown Tampa. But this wasn’t any ordinary food kitchen. Unlike most food kitchens which operate with a cafeteria-style line and have people choose their own seats, this particular food kitchen was run like a restaurant. And, guess who played the role of "servers" and "hosts" for the morning? If you guessed the EquityPro Tampa Team, you’re correct.

"People would get in line, and the host would accompany them to their table, just like a restaurant. The guests would sit back and relax while we took orders, served their food, and refilled drinks," says Bob Tosi, Senior Vice President of EquityPro, Tampa. "We each had a role," Tosi, who acted as "server," adds. A role he enjoyed very much.

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Tosi and Lane teamed up to serve their guests. While one would refill drinks, the other would chat with the patrons. But, as the "breakfast crowd" of nearly 200 neared the end of the meal, it became evident to Tosi, Lane, and the other EquityPro volunteers that they were anywhere but a typical restaurant.

"The biggest surprise to me came after everyone finished their meals. When the guests were done eating, they pulled out make-shift to-go containers, basically anything they could put food in, to take home the leftovers. They would even take unfinished food from someone else's plate and put it in their containers," observes Tosi.

One particular gentleman stood out to Lane. "He was asking for extra oranges," says Lane. "He explained that he gives them to the children across the street." While they didn't have extra oranges to give, Lane and the others gathered oranges left on plates as well as cookies to give to the man.

It poses a question. How often do we simply throw our leftovers into the trash without thinking? Or not think twice about where our next meal is coming from when right here in our community, people are starving. "Spending the morning serving breakfast to the homeless made us realize how blessed we are. And, sometimes, we need to remember that not everyone is as blessed. So, what can we do to share our blessings?" Lane says.

From organizing food drives to visiting cancer patients at the hospital, the team at EquityPro is always looking for a way to serve the community where they live and work. And it's a great reminder to each of us to slow down, practice gratitude, and do what we can to share our many blessings with others.

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