Insurance agency recognized for charity
Thomas J Wood Insurance Agency Inc. in Libby has earned a 2016 Safeco Insurance Make More Happen Award for its community work with Wings Regional Cancer Support, according to a press release issued Friday.
The award includes a $4,000 donation to Wings Regional Cancer Support from Safeco Insurance.
Thomas J Wood Insurance Agency Inc. agent, Colleen Wood, and Wings Regional Cancer Support also had a story featured on Safeco.com, which awarded the nonprofit an additional $1,000. For the organization to win the extra money, at least 50 different individuals had to leave a virtual “cheer” on the Safeco.com story.
Safeco’s Make More Happen Award recognizes independent agents who demonstrate extraordinary volunteerism for a nonprofit organization. These awards focus on nonprofits in the areas of health and safety, education and civil service. Thomas J Wood Insurance Agency Inc. was selected for the Make More Happen Award based on a photo and application demonstrating its commitment to Wings Regional Cancer Support, which serves Kalispell by creating financial assistance to individuals and their families to help defray out-of-pocket expenses associated with cancer treatment.
Wood and her family have been involved with the organization since the day it was founded. Wood’s mother-in-law, a cancer survivor herself, played a vital role in getting the nonprofit off the ground. Seeing a problem that most patients could not afford travel expenses for treatment, which was not covered under insurance, the Wood family helps put on several fundraisers for Wings every year. Such fundraisers include a color run which funds typically goes toward travel costs for patients receiving treatment away from home.
Throughout 2016, Safeco will select a total of 66 independent agencies for the awards and donate up to $330,000 to the nonprofits they support. The Make More Happen Awards are a part of Safeco Insurance’s Agent Giving Program.
About Safeco Insurance
In business since 1923 and based in Boston, Mass., Safeco Insurance sells personal automobile, homeowners and specialty products through a network of more than 10,000 independent insurance agencies throughout the United States. Safeco is a Liberty Mutual Insurance company.
Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance is a diversified insurer and the fifth largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2015 direct written premium data as reported by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Liberty Mutual is ranked 73rd on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2015 revenue.