View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2015/11/19/389489.htm
More than 8,575 insurance industry volunteers from 76 cities in 30 states provided more than 25,000 hours of service to community nonprofits during the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation’s (IICF) Week of Giving, according to IICF.
Held this year from October 10-17, the annual Week of Giving program brings insurance professionals together for a week-long series of volunteer projects and events in the local communities where they live and work.
“The Week of Giving represents some of the best that the insurance industry has to offer, with insurance professionals from coast to coast rolling up their sleeves to lend a helping hand to their communities and neighbors in need,” said Bill Ross, CEO of IICF. “It is truly heart-warming to see vast numbers of industry volunteers across the nation uniting to support such great causes.”
This year’s Week of Giving stressed early literacy programs for underserved youths, with seven early literacy events being hosted nationwide. The events featured materials from IICF’s Every Day is a Reading and Writing Day, a free, online bilingual early literacy program produced in partnership with Sesame Workshop. IICF and industry volunteers led children through interactive reading and writing activities during these events.
IICF also continued its #5forELI social media-focused fundraising campaign during the month of October. This allowed individuals to share stories of support for early literacy efforts – and direct donations to IICF’s Early Literacy Initiative. All proceeds that resulted from this campaign and Week of Giving were donated to Sesame Workshop and the ELI program.
Through the Week of Giving program since 2001, insurance industry volunteers have dedicated 218,722 hours to local nonprofits, IICF said. Volunteer projects that IICF has supported include youth and children services, health and disease issues, women’s issues, elderly care, food service and donation, and disaster preparedness.
The IICF has contributed more than $23.5 million in grants to charities and 218,722 volunteer hours to hundreds of community nonprofit organizations.