September Leasing & Retention

September

Child Good Manners Month
Borrow an etiquette book from the library and have a class on good manners for your neighborhood children. If you don't want to teach the class yourself, many Ritz Carlton Hotels offer etiquette classes for children. Look in the phone book for a Ritz Carlton near you. Emily Post's Birthday is on October 30th. Check out our etiquette tips on page six of this Rent & Retain.

Self Improvement Month
Help residents get in shape, get organized, improve their writing or cooking skills, whatever! Remember the #1 thing people want to do is have more fun, #2 is lose weight, #3 is get organized.

Stock your lending library (see Rent & Retain's May & June, 2004 calendar ideas) with self-help books.

Library Card Sign Up Month
Put a library card sign up form in all move-in packets. Put a stack of forms in the office for current residents, too. Host a Run To Read and collect an entrance fee (donation) to run in your mile race. All donations go to a literacy fund. Give everyone who participates a t-shirt.

Encourage staff members to read at your library's story time to local kids. Make sure residents know when they�ll be there.

Cholesterol Awareness Month
Set up free cholesterol screenings one Saturday for your residents. Call a local hospital, health club or urgent care center and ask them to spend a morning at your facility. Set aside a room (vacant or model apartment?) for your screenings; serve healthy foods, granola bars, juice and tea.

The hospital is probably your best bet as many hospitals have a speakers� network. Call their public or community relations office. These speakers offer free seminars on many helpful topics. Call the hospital�s main phone number or the P.R. department directly. You can find the number in the yellow pages or by calling directory assistance.

Some health clubs offer similar seminars and may be able to administer blood pressure screenings, and stress tests. Fitness professionals, like an aerobics instructor from a health club, can also lead discussions on safe exercise, healthy eating, how to improve your flexibility, ideas and exercises for new moms and LOTS MORE! Look in the yellow pages under Health Clubs. These free seminars are great cross-marketing for both the hospital and/or health club.

Distribute emergency phone number cards, how to perform the Heimlich maneuver, breast exams, and where to find the nearest blood pressure machine.

National Chicken Month & National Rice Month
Nearly every nationality has a favorite version of these two ingredients put together. Have a potluck supper where everyone brings their favorite. The possibilities are endless; white rice and chicken terriaki, Cuban arroz con pollo, Mediterranean chicken and rice pilaf, etc. Encourage as much variety as possible.

School Success Month
It's September and time for all the kids in your community to head back to school. Make a commitment to help them succeed this year. Do you have a small room or nook that you could set up as a study area? If enough kids are interested you might consider hiring a tutor to come in once a week so kids can come by for drop-in tutor sessions.

Or you can organize study groups for kids in the same grade to get together and study. Make sure there is enough interest in your community before you implement these ideas. The families in your community are bound to give you an A+!

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