Nominations were reviewed by an impartial representative from the Northern Ohio Apartment Association, who evaluated each submission based on alignment with Redwood’s mission and the strength of the nominator’s story. This year, there was an increased focus on local organizations and grassroots efforts across regions where Redwood has neighborhoods.  

Beyond financial contributions, Redwood encourages employees to use volunteer time off to further support these organizations—or others that matter personally. The company will also help raise awareness by spotlighting the nonprofits across its communications channels. 

Redwood will direct its 2025 monetary contributions and 2026 volunteer and awareness support to the following organizations: 

Organizations nominated by Redwood employees:

Young at Heart Senior Pet Rescue

Young at Heart‘s mission is to provide senior dogs and cats with a safe haven to ensure they live with comfort, compassion, and companionship in their golden years. The organization saves the lives of homeless senior dogs and cats from situations where their age puts them first in line to be euthanized. They find loving homes for adoptable senior pets and offer a peaceful sanctuary life for those that are less adoptable.

Excerpt from submission: Supporting Young at Heart is more than just funding a shelter — it’s giving the most vulnerable animals the gift of peace in their final years. It’s making sure that a dog who once slept on a cold concrete floor now has a bed of her own. It’s ensuring that a cat who was left behind because of his age now spends his afternoons basking in a patch of sunlight. It’s rewriting the ending of their story into one filled with dignity, compassion, and love.

Trust The Journey

Trust The Journey is a nonprofit organization in Northeast Ohio dedicated to supporting children with disabilities, complex medical needs, and learning differences, and the families who love them. Founded by parents who understand firsthand the emotional and financial strain of raising a child with special needs, Trust The Journey’s mission is rooted in compassion, advocacy, and action. 

Excerpt from submission: Funds from Redwood Cares would be used to support Trust The Journey Academy as it opens its doors [in Brunswick, Ohio]. This includes:

• Outfitting classrooms with adaptive learning materials and specialized equipment.
• Supporting therapy spaces for speech, occupational, and physical therapy.
• Ensuring the facility is fully equipped for accessibility and sensory needs.
• Covering early operational needs to help the Academy start strong in its first year.

Organizations nominated by Redwood residents: 

Blessings in a Backpack

Blessings in a Backpack mobilizes communities, individuals, and resources to provide food on the weekends for school-aged children across America who might otherwise go hungry. Since 2009, Blessings in a Backpack has provided 30 million hunger-free weekends for more than one million children nationwide.

Excerpt from submission: As an elementary teacher for 37 years, I often saw a need for such a service. No child should go to bed hungry, and these gifts sustain their ability to not only exist but have the freedom a child should enjoy to live, play, and learn. Childhood is a fleeting moment and worry about where their next meal will come from should not be a childhood issue. 

Miami Valley Meals 

Miami Valley Meals is an essential collaborator in the fight for a more food-secure future. Their team of professional chefs transform donated and rescued food into nutritious meals, distributed free of charge through a network of partner nonprofits serving those experiencing food insecurity. By collaborating closely with community partners, Miami Valley Meals helps strengthen existing resources and broaden access to supportive services, creating a more comprehensive safety net for individuals and families in need. Miami Valley Meals believes everyone deserves a meal made with love. 

Excerpt from submission: I have spent several days with this organization volunteering in many capacities. Cutting, chopping, cleaning, sorting food items in preparation to put wholesome meals together for those in need. Miami Valley Meals is totally committed to feeding the hungry in our community. Thanksgiving week is one of their biggest for food preparations as they make well over 500 Thanksgiving dinners to distribute to any organization calling for a need. 

Organizations nominated by Redwood investors: 

Free Bikes 4 Kidz Detroit

Free Bikes 4 Kidz Detroit is the eighth of 20 FB4K affiliates across the U.S. Since 2018, FB4K Detroit has given away over 14,000 bikes to kids in need. In the last 16 years, FB4K affiliates across the country have given away 200,000 bikes and the organization is not done yet—future sights are set on other locations throughout the U.S. and the world.

Excerpt from submission: Last year FB4KD collected, refurbished and distributed 2,229 bikes along with a brand-new helmet with every bike. So far in 2025 FB4KD has collected over 2,500 bikes. In the coming weeks, those bikes, with the help of well over 1,000 volunteers, will be refurbished and given away around the holidays to schools, churches, neighborhood groups and bike clubs in Detroit. 

In Step With Horses

In Step With Horses is driven by a single goal – to provide a safe place to rebalance mental health through a connection with animals and nature. A trauma-informed mental health service, the organization connects clients to licensed mental health professionals and/or experienced equine professionals and trained therapy animals to improve their emotional wellbeing.  Experiential therapies often break down emotional barriers faster and with longer-lasting effect than traditional talk therapy.

Excerpt from submission: While I’ve been fortunate to serve a number of organizations over the years, my In Step With Horses experience has been very inspirational. I frankly had little idea how pervasive and devastating mental illness is and now understand that it 1) is more prevalent now among our children and teens than ever before, 2) destroys lives, families and communities, and 3) still is stigmatized, misunderstood and too often ignored in society. Set on a private farm, the program provides an emotionally safe space for children, teens and adults to improve their mental health. 

The annual giving initiative through their Redwood Cares philanthropy program is just one of the ways Redwood commits to meaningful community engagement. Throughout the year, employees participate in volunteer activities ranging from food bank support and animal shelter assistance to charity races and outdoor clean-up efforts. Redwood also partners with One Tree Planted, donating $1 for every new employee, resident and investor to help fund global reforestation. 

Since 1991, Redwood has been reinventing the traditional apartment rental experience. The company has developed more than 20,000 single-story apartment homes and manages 150+ neighborhoods throughout the Midwest and Carolinas.