Rent-to-own News - APRO Customer of the Year finalists selected

The Association of Progressive Rental Organization's annual "Academy Awards" of RTO narrowed this week to four outstanding finalists in the customer of the year category. Again this year's entries represent the best of the industry.

Louise Brown has been a customer of Virginia-based BestWay Rent To Own for 20 years.

A retired cook, Brown and her husband, have provided foster care services for the City of Portsmouth for 29 years dealing primarily with hardship cases and emergency situations.

She has provided foster care services for over 500 children and was honored five times as "Foster Parent of the Year". Brown is currently attending Tidewater Community College to further her education in child development.

In addition, six months ago, the Browns started an organization called 'The Veteran's Lodge' which provides services to U.S. Veterans who are unaware of the benefits available to them. They visit churches and prisons to help those veterans receive their benefits.

Bobby and Carla Ellis have been loyal Rent One customers for over 20 years. They are following a family tradition as Bobby's parents and his brothers and sisters are also Rent One customers.

Bobby and Carla are co-founders of the Midwest Sho Boyz Car Club. The car club started at the suggestion of Mt. Vernon, Illinois Rent One Manager Terry McLean who suggested a car show as a way of helping a coordinator raise funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Association.

The Ellis' took the idea and ran. Together, Rent One and the Ellis' hosted one of the largest car shows Mt. Vernon has ever seen, right in the parking lot of the Mt. Vernon store. They handled publicity and turned out an impressive crowd that raised money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Association.

The Ellis' created the Midwest Sho Boyz Car Club around four years ago. The club is a non-profit and all proceeds are donated to charities. Their car shows in the past have helped a youth center in West Frankfort, along with Mt. Vernon Multiple Sclerosis Association and other worthwhile organizations.

William Kent, a Rent-A-Center Customer in Rockford, Illinois, runs multiple outreach programs for at-risk-youth.

Chief among these is the William T. Kent Youth Ministry, founded in 1983, which teaches disadvantaged youth how to play golf. Several years later he expanded his program to neighboring Beloit, Wisconsin and set up his "youth golf center".

Although he relies on community leaders and local church groups and recovery programs, Kent does most of the work himself, relying on volunteers and donations from the local community. His goal is to help people understand that by giving youth a positive outlet, it will give them a positive outlook on life.

Kent believes in golf as a treatment for drug and alcohol addiction.

"It is very important to replace bad habits with good habits," Kent said. "We use golf to create positive good habits. Golf is a character builder."

Robert Walker is a Premier customer from Lakewood, Colorado.

Walker has been a foster parent to children with disabilities for 18 years and is active in his community. He uses rent to own to provide what his foster children need. Walker also does fundraising for the Colorado AIDS Project.

The APRO 2010 Customer of the Year Winner will receive $1,000 cash prize. AND, the employee who nominates the winner receives a cash prize of $500 for discovering the rent-to-own customer that best exemplifies the humanity and giving spirit within the rent to own industry.

The customer winner will be featured in a video during APRO's General Session and in award-winning APRO national publications. Many recipients have been featured in their local newspapers and television news programs. The winner is bestowed the equivalent of rent-to-own's "Oscar" award for APRO's 2010 Customer of the Year.