LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The pandemic sidelined hundreds of thousands of Nevadans from their jobs and their incomes creating a tsunami of unpaid rents and mortgages, and fear for homeowners.
But thanks to our next Remarkable Woman, Kristin Schuler-Hintz with her tireless heart for helping others — hundreds of those people were spared being evicted.
“I don’t want to see anybody lose their home. This happens to people who’ve never missed a mortgage payment. People who’ve bought a house with the intention of living in it until the day they die or leaving it to their children,” Schuler-Hintz said.
She knew she had to do something to help residents hang on to their homes while also helping her company survive.
“One of the things that we always try to focus on is what can we do to help people understand what their rights are, what their obligations are, what kind of help is out there?”
Schuler-Hintz is an attorney with McCarthy and Holthus, a law firm that represents banks and mortgage lenders, clients who loan people money to buy a home and can legally take back that property if you stop making payments.
“We don’t blame you for not being able to pay your mortgage. We don’t think you’re a bad person. We understand this happens. What can we do to help you help yourself?” Schuler-Hintz said.
And when COVID began taking its financial toll on the community, she pivoted to help her clients’ customers navigate the arduous paperwork journey to avoid eviction. Many didn’t have a computer or internet service.
“And if you’re trying to register for eviction assistance through your phone and trying to find the documents to upload to get ahold of people, you know, they can’t do it.”
Remarkably, she has helped more than 500 homeowners stay securely put during a very uncertain time. But her heart for helping goes far beyond her job. She also helped friends and others – especially seniors – get those coveted first COVID vaccines when appointments seemed impossible.
“I mean if you weren’t sitting at a computer all day long checking for appointments and trying to get in you couldn’t get one. So, I was in front of my computer all day long anyway so why not have one screen getting people vaccine appointments and the other screen directed at my work?”
And that’s just what she did even driving some to get their shots like 73-year-old Ellen Mcabee and waiting in line with her for hours.
Schuler-Hintz and her husband also give their time to many different non-profits from holiday toys and food drives to Alzheimer’s and the AIDS foundation.
As a performer back in the 1980s she saw many performers – some friends – lose their fight with AIDS.
“I hope before I die that we can say AIDS is cured. That would be the best thing to take with me. Whatever little bit that I’ve done has stopped people dying from AIDS.”
Her family is made up of adopted, special-needs, four-legged kids from local pet rescues.
“We adopted a dog from the humane society because it said on it, “Foreclosure” and it’s like, I don’t care what dog we’re here for, we’re taking that one, too.”
Schuler-Hintz also mentors young Nevada attorneys and says she hopes that by setting an example for them and for all young people that helping others just a little every day can have a big impact over time.
“I get up and I do my job and I try to do it in the nicest way possible so that people’s lives are made maybe a little bit better. And I think that’s all you can say. All you can do is to make people’s lives just a little bit better every day.”
A heart for giving and a never-ending spirit for helping others is why Kristin Schuler-Hintz is an 8 News Now Remarkable Woman.
