Meredith Hoffman

The Sembler Company

By Leah Etling on Jul 15, 2013 in People

Meredith Hoffman once commented on her Facebook page: “I’m trying to save the world, one walk at a time.”

With an impressive commitment to fundraising for a cure for breast cancer, Meredith has walked thousands of miles while training and helped her teammates raise more than $100,000 to support the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization. This month, she’ll participate in her sixth straight 3-day, 60 mile Komen walk event in Boston, Ma.

As Director of Human Resources for Yardi client The Sembler Company, Meredith’s passion for philanthropy also shows through in the workplace. Sembler, a privately-held commercial real estate firm, enthusiastically encourages its employees to give back whenever possible, and the company has four opportunities to participate in volunteer day-style activities. Supported organizations for 2013, chosen by a committee of employees, include Habitat for Humanity, a local food bank, the Salvation Army, and Ronald McDonald House.

Other non-profits that have received assistance and volunteers hours from Sembler include the Walk to End Alzheimer’s Disease, Junior Diabetes’ Research Foundation, and the SPCA, among others. A group from Sembler endeavors to walk in as many local charity events as they can fit into their schedules.

“It’s something we’ve been doing for as long as I am aware of,” Meredith said. “Even when we’re not actively going out to complete a project we’re sponsoring tables at lunches and breakfasts for benefits and participating in other community events.”

With strong local ties to its home city of St. Petersburg, Florida, Sembler has been a major developer of local shopping centers. Its owners and board of directors are all active in non-profits and causes that are important to them. The company is celebrating its 50 year anniversary in 2013.

“We understand that it is imperative to give back to the community,” said Meredith, who also serves as a volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters. For the last two years, she has met weekly with her “little sister,” who is now leaving junior high and moving on to high school. She also serves on the board of directors of the CASA Community Development center, which supports victims of domestic violence in St. Petersburg.

In her leadership role, Meredith is able to encourage others to join in the fun of giving back, and she can speak from personal experience how powerful such experiences can be. At one point several years ago, she recruited her coworkers to also participate in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, and had an amazing turnout, delivering more than ten volunteers to the organization’s door.

From the perspective of a human resources professional, Meredith clearly sees the benefits of having employees interact with one another in a collaborative, useful space that’s outside of the office.

“It’s teamwork. It’s working together, doing something that’s not necessarily about the job. If you go out and work on a house together at Habitat for Humanity, you get to know someone in an entirely different way than if you just go ask them a question about their most recent report. You have a different relationship which will probably forge a better relationship for you in the work environment. That’s something that we pride ourselves on.”

With two grandmothers who are both breast cancer survivors, Meredith is motivated by personal experience to support the Komen cause. Training for a walk can take up to six months, and each participant must raise a minimum of $2,300 to participate. But the experiential reward and the feeling of knowing she is doing something to help is priceless.

“When you see someone who is out there who has breast cancer, you think to yourself, ‘OK, I can keep going,’” she recalled. “When we are out training, we have had people stop us and thank us for our efforts. One man asked us to tape a message to his daughter. She had hoped to be out walking with us, but then she was diagnosed. Cancer is something we’ve all been touched by, and it feels good to be out there doing something. Walking is how I make my difference.”