Proceeds from Melville home sale to go to charity

At a time when homeowners are trying to get every last penny in this down real estate market, one Long Island seller and her broker say they plan to give away some of their profits to charity.

Media personality Donna Drake just listed her five-bedroom, 3.5-bath Melville home for $599,000 with Cori Kaplan of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, who says she will donate 10 percent of her commission to brain cancer research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Drake says she also will gift some of the proceeds from the sale of her home, though she has not yet determined the amount she will give or what charity will receive it.

She has chosen the Long Island Cares/Harry Chapin Food Bank, the Interfaith Nutrition Network, the American Cancer Society, the Lustgarten Foundation and the American Heart Association as recipients of profits from an April 30 garage sale she plans to hold at the house. The event will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 15 Elderwood Lane.

"I have a sale every year, but this year everything is going," says Drake, host of "Live It Up!," a one-hour lifestyle show that airs at 6 a.m. Fridays on WLNY-TV 10/55.

Why would anyone donate so much to charity in this economy? "In a nutshell, it's how I'm hardwired," says Drake. " My husband passed away in 2004 from colon cancer, and my mom Judi was 45 when she died from breast cancer. My entire television show and how I live my life is as a person is as someone who makes a difference in the world. If we all take care of each other, that's the secret of success. It's just a good karma thing to do."

As for Kaplan, being charitable is also personal. "I have a family member who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer," says Kaplan. "Donna asked me to donate to charity as part of this event."
 

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