PRESS RELEASE:  Atlanta (November 10, 2014) – Betsy Sheppard and Kerrie Gilbert of Gilbert & Sheppard Group, the well-known marketing and business consulting firm that creates award-winning campaigns for a variety of clients in the housing industry, won two prestigious OBIE Awards at the annual Awards Gala hosted by the Greater Atlanta Home Builder’s Association (GAHBA) on November 8.

On behalf of their client Park Springs, Gilbert & Sheppard Group (GSG) won the Gold OBIE for Best Website – Community.

“Working closely with the team at Park Springs, we took this opportunity to build the luxury retirement community’s new website by keeping especially potential Members and their adult children in mind. We used a mobile responsive platform with user-friendly navigation menus, buttons, text and images designed to guide viewers easily from page to page to content that we believe is essential to their understanding and experience of Park Springs,” says Kerrie Gilbert, Creative Director and co-owner of GSG. “We are honored to win this Gold OBIE – and so is Park Springs!”

In addition to this recognition by the greater Atlanta metropolitan housing industry for their work on behalf of Park Springs, Gilbert & Sheppard Group won a Silver OBIE for Best Flyer/Mailer for Olde Town Grayson, the 55+ community in historic Grayson in South Gwinnett. Their “Pour on the Porch” promotional flyer combined ‘Sweet Tea and Southern Charm’ while highlighting a special add-on builder’s feature available to new homebuyers.

“We have a great team, and we enjoy what we do. We do it well, and we really care about our clients’ success,” agree Sheppard and Gilbert.

Their company’s strengths are:

• Business Consulting, specializing in internal and external branding efforts
• Strategic Planning including review and preparation of marketing plan and budget
• Creative Development, copywriting graphic design and production
• Interactive e-marketing programs including website design and development
• Social media, blogging and public relations.

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About Gilbert & Sheppard Group:

Gilbert & Sheppard Group, LLC was founded by Betsy Sheppard, a respected veteran in the marketing and advertising industry and graduate of Georgia Southern University. Betsy teamed up with Kerrie Gilbert, an award winning creative director and Summa Cum Laude graduate of Savannah College of Art & Design. Together they assembled an outstanding group of talented, client-focused professionals. Gilbert & Sheppard Group offers expertise in the areas of business consulting, strategic planning, creative development, interactive e-marketing programs, public relations and social media.

www.gilbertsheppard.com  404.829.4506

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“We were so excited to have the assistance of two HBA groups for this event,” says Jean Hilyard, Executive Director of HomeAid. “The Remodelers Council and the Atlanta Professional Women in Building Council made a huge difference in just one day.”

HomeAid Atlanta Builder of the Year in 2012, James MacDowell of Unique Homes and Renovations and his crew painted the inside of the dining hall. Its walls had been a ‘challenging pink color’ for more than 20 years.

From 8:30AM til about 2:30PM, the volunteers, including GSG’s Louise Plonowski, rolled up their sleeves and went to work all over the 93-acre campus in the middle of Decatur. In addition to one group who sanded and stained a deck attached to one of the buildings, another group did a lot of heavy cleaning inside one of the housing units, while a third set of hard workers cleared (pretty tall) underbrush at the bank leading to the entrance of the UMCH community. Christine Batten manned the industrial weed-eater like a pro!

HomeAid Atlanta is the designated charity of the Greater Atlanta HBA. HomeAid builds new lives for families and homeless individuals through housing and community outreach.

About United Methodist Children’s Home (UMCH)

UMCH provides redemptive, healing service that bring meaningful change to the lives of children and families. All of UMCH’s services are aimed at preventing the breakup of families, restoring and healing separated families, or teaching teens and young adults how to create successful and meaningful lives for their own future families.

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Gilbert & Sheppard Group designs and coordinates all marketing activities for this beautiful master-planned community near Columbia, South Carolina and has been doing so since before Saluda River Club’s opening in 2008. For the entire team at Gilbert & Sheppard Group, this Best Overall Sales and Marketing Pinnacle Award for 2014 is a splendid recognition of our ongoing strategic and creative efforts on behalf of Saluda River Club.

“We are honored to work with Saluda River Club and Lifestone Communities, the developer of the community,” says Betsy Sheppard, president of Gilbert & Sheppard Group. “It is an outstanding new home community that attracts a variety of homeowners who all love to call Saluda River Club home.”

In addition to this award, Saluda River Club won a Pinnacle Award in each of these other categories:
Sales and Marketing:
• Best Subdivision/Community
• Best Interior Merchandising for a Model Home
• Best New Home Construction: $200,000 to $499,999

Saluda River Club is known nationwide for its well-built, distinctive homes in a beautiful natural setting, located close to Columbia’s major medical facilities and the University of South Carolina. Its luxurious amenities, including the Chickawa Outdoor Center, the Village Clubhouse, clubs and activities, river access, trails and parks, plus its location in one of the best school districts in the state, Lexington School District One, make this a very attractive community for young professionals, growing families and empty nesters alike. In 2013, in addition to its two original neighborhoods, The River District and The Village District, Saluda River Club opened The Woodlands District, introducing ‘New Carolina Living.’

The Pinnacle Awards are open to all members of the Home Builders Association of South Carolina. All entries were completed during the 2013 calendar year.

To learn more about how Gilbert & Sheppard Group can help your organization get incredible results through creative marketing, branding and business consulting, please call 404-829-4506.

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“It was a joy to be part of this group of dedicated professionals who immersed themselves in this 9-month long program. It’s a major commitment that really opened my eyes about how best to contribute to and work for the betterment of our community where we live, work and play. We all learned so much, and we’ve become friends for life in the process!” says Kerrie, who is involved with a number of community initiatives in Ellijay and Gilmer County. She is on the Board of Directors of Kids Ferst, and donates time and talent to a variety of non-profit organizations.

Congratulations, Kerrie and the other graduates of the Leadership Gilmer Class of 2014!

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Earlier this month, Gilbert & Sheppard Group was honored to participate in the 2014 HomeAid Atlanta’s Essentials for Young Lives® Drive, benefiting local organizations providing housing and supportive services to homeless families and young children.

This was the most successful fundraising drive to date for the organization, according to Jean Hilyard, Executive Director: “We more than doubled our prior collection record, with over 155,000 items donated for homeless and low-income infants, toddlers, and their mothers, with a value of almost $45,000.”

Just before Mother’s Day, the items collected were distributed to nonprofit organizations in greater Atlanta, many with facilities that have been built in partnership with HomeAid Atlanta, such as Action Ministries (Atlanta), Atlanta Dream Center (Atlanta), Community Advanced Practice Nurses (Atlanta), Decatur Cooperative Ministry (Decatur), Genesis Shelter (Atlanta), HavenATL (Atlanta), HomeStretch (Roswell), My House (Cherokee County), Nicholas House (Atlanta), Our House (Decatur), Out of Darkness (Atlanta), Partnership Against Domestic Violence (Atlanta), Phoenix Pass (Conyers), Rainbow Village (Duluth), Sheltering Arms Early Education & Family Centers (Atlanta), and The Drake House (Roswell).

For more information about how you can donate to HomeAid, the nonprofit organization operating in affiliation with the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association, please check www.homeaidatlanta.org.

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Kerrie was recently appointed to serve on the Board of Directors of Kids Ferst, a non-profit organization in Gilmer County (GA) that is focused on improving early literacy by providing books to prepare Gilmer County preschool children for reading and learning success. Several volunteers from Kids Ferst participated in today’s special reading time honoring Dr. Seuss.

Later this month Kerrie will also be reading to kids at the Gilmer County Food Pantry’s Kids Ferst Reading Room.

Kerrie is passionate about promoting and improving early literacy, though she notes that as a kid, she was “not a good reader at all – especially out loud.”

“I was painfully shy and stuttered terribly when asked to read in class. But when I became an Aunt at a young age, that eventually changed. Reading Dr. Seuss and other books to my nieces and nephews, and later my goddaughter, helped me discover a love for entertaining children and for being captivated by a story,” she says.

“Now, I am honored to be a Kids Ferst volunteer and I look forward to lots of reading time with our Gilmer County kids!”

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The delegation included some of the region’s renowned apple growers, current and past participants in the Leadership Gilmer Program (Betsy graduated from this program in 2013), as well as members of the Gilmer County Chamber of Commerce, the Ellijay Downtown Development Authority and Gilmer County’s Economic Development Authority.

“We treated members of the Georgia House and Senate to fresh apples, fried apple pies, dried apples and other apple products to highlight our signature crop – and to highlight Gilmer County as an economic growth area in Northeast Georgia, as well as a vibrant tourist destination,” notes Betsy. “We want to be the ‘Apple of Georgia’s Eye,’ and with Apple Day, we created lots of additional awareness for our city, county and region.”

Apple pageant beauty queens also made the trip, and Minister Butch Jones of the Ellijay Church of Christ served as the Chaplain of the Day in the House.

The presentation at the Capitol was another illustration of how the Gilmer County Chamber of Commerce actively supports the industries and businesses that operate in Gilmer County. The organization contributes to the planning processes that guide how Gilmer County will grow new business and industry in the future.

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“It is a true honor to be elected for a second term on this active and vibrant Board of Trustees,” according to Betsy, who is, in addition to many other talents, known as a national expert in the area of marketing active adult and senior communities.

“Our Board is comprised of a number of thought leaders in the industry. We’ve had a great series of committee meetings already, and our recent board meeting was upbeat and very positive about het future of 50+ housing. Together with my esteemed colleagues, I am looking forward to a great 2014 for this segment of the housing industry.”

In addition to her position as member of the NAHB’s 50+ Housing Council Board of Trustees, Betsy currently serves as a member of the Atlanta 50+ Housing Council’s Board of Directors, an organization she previously chaired.

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On Saturday, February 8, Gilbert & Sheppard Group and Saluda River Club were honored with several marketing awards for 2013 by the Sales & Marketing Council (SMC) of the Home Builders Association of Greater Columbia at the 25th Annual REGAL Awards Gala, including:
• Best Mobile Website – for a Developer
• Best Marketing Video
• Best Advertising Campaign – for a Developer
• 2013 Master Planned “Community of the Year”

The yearly event, hosted at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, celebrates “Real Estate’s Greatest Achievers & Leaders in the Greater Columbia area.”

Saluda River Club also won a REGAL Award for Best Interior Merchandising for the category $275,000 – $399,999 – The Monterey; and for the category $400,000 and over – The Carmel. The community also won for Best Outdoor Living Space.

“Gilbert & Sheppard Group is proud of Saluda River Club and the outstanding new home community that it is. Lifestone Residential, the developer of the community, has done a tremendous job of creating this beautiful community that homeowners love to call home. We are very honored to be working with Saluda River Club,” says Betsy Sheppard, president of Gilbert & Sheppard Group.

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Currently, she is the Vice Chairman of the Atlanta Professional Women in Building Council’s Board of Directors, and will be this organization’s Chairman of the Board in 2015.

Though just founded in October 2012, the Atlanta PWB organization was recognized as the 2013 Council of the Year at the recent International Builders Show in Las Vegas.

“I am honored with the nomination and election to the role of Area Trustee,” says Betsy. “I am really looking forward to beginning my role and promoting this outstanding Council.”

Professional Women in Building members work in all aspects of the building industry – as business owners, builders, remodelers, architects, suppliers, marketing experts, designers and in finance and real estate. It is a strong and diverse network that is making advancements for women working in the building industry.

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