Pardee Homes reports that $37,000 was raised by employees for research into the cause and cure of multiple sclerosis, as Team Pardee Homes completed the recent Southern California MS Challenge Walk. Thirteen Pardee Homes employees joined the team and walked 50 miles over three days, along the San Diego coastline from Carlsbad to downtown San Diego.

“Team Pardee Homes rallied together to once again support this worthwhile cause,” said Sandra Kitashima, communications coordinator and team captain for Pardee Homes. “We accepted the challenge because we believe that one long journey over three days will ultimately shorten the road to the cure for MS.” Team Pardee Homes was ranked fourth in overall team fundraising and was honored, along with the other top teams, at a special dinner during the challenge, added Kitashima.

In addition to fielding a fundraising team, Pardee Homes sponsored the last rest stop on the first day of the 50 mile walk, staffing it with employees and volunteers. “It was a welcome sight to have our colleagues cheering us on as we approached our final two miles on the first day of the walk,” said Joyce Mason, vice president of marketing for Pardee Homes. “It offered us just the right combination of encouragement and excitement we needed to make it that last leg of a very challenging day.”

This is the fourth year of participation for Team Pardee Homes who has also met the requirements to gain additional funding from The Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation. Through its Making WAVES grant program, The Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation adds to the funds raised through employee-led volunteerism.

The Pardee Homes team members were among some 350 walkers who participated in the challenge to help bring the National Multiple Sclerosis Society closer to a cure. The MS Society’s research efforts have resulted in improved diagnosis, important new treatments and enhanced rehabilitation for all forms of MS.

“Pardee Homes’ employees are known for working together to make a difference in people’s lives,” said Mike McGee, Pardee Homes’ president and CEO. “Our team included representatives from four of our regional offices and eight departments demonstrating incredible camaraderie and commitment. The MS Walk is one of many such efforts our workforce makes on behalf of those who struggle with serious illness, and everyone at Pardee Homes joins me in commending our team—they did a great job.”

Originally established in Los Angeles in 1921, today’s Pardee Homes is a multi-regional home building company with offices in San Diego, Corona, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Valencia, and Las Vegas, Nevada. Pardee Homes received the 2006 Hearthstone BUILDER Humanitarian Award, the homebuilding industry’s largest and most prestigious philanthropic award, and has also been named America’s Best Builder 2003 by BUILDER magazine and Best Builder in 2003 and 2004 in the San Diego Union Tribune Reader’s Poll. The company is recognized for commitment to energy efficient building practices, superior master planning concepts, quality construction and customer satisfaction and dedication to the educational and civic goals of the communities in which it builds.