Insurance Industry’s Volunteer Week Slated for Oct. 15-22 in New York Tri-State & New England

Volunteer Week, the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation's (IICF) event, will be held October 15-22, 2011 in the New York tri-state area and New England.
 
During the eight-day industrywide event, teams of insurance volunteers will fan out into local communities to donate three or more hours of service at neighborhood and community nonprofit organizations. Volunteers can register at: http://Volunteer.IICF.org.
 
Volunteer Week, begun by the IICF's West Coast region in 1997, has contributed more than 140,000 hours of volunteer service to local communities across the country. More than 2,000 participants were active in the tri-state area during Volunteer Week 2010, volunteering more than 13,000 hours in nearly 200 different projects.
 
The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation facilitates Volunteer Week activities by soliciting and organizing volunteer projects with community organizations, schools, and other nonprofit entities. IICF provides online signup for volunteer teams and provides team leaders with contact information for the charities with which they'll work.

Published on September 13, 2011

Betsy Myatt, executive director of the IICF New York/Northeast division, commented: "Volunteer Week feeds insurance industry employees' strong desire to give back to their local communities, and supports companies that want to be active players in their communities. In the first year in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state area, we expected about 1,000 volunteers. We saw double that. Insurance employers and employees alike see benefit from the community involvement and camaraderie of volunteer service."
 
Volunteers from a broad spectrum of industry employers -- reinsurers, carriers, agencies, brokerage firms, consulting firms, law firms, trade associations and other industry-related companies -- are expected to participate in Volunteer Week.
 
Teams can choose the projects they are interested in from a menu of projects in a wide range of needs, including disaster preparedness, education, the environment, housing, senior issues, women's issues, and youth and children. "IICF makes volunteering simpler by making initial contacts with the charities, so volunteers and their team leaders can make the most of the time spent hands-on working," Myatt said.
 
David Brinkman, chair of the IICF New York Division board and executive managing director of Aon Benfield, noted: "Volunteer Week works for charities, which receive the benefits of hard work, and often find new long-term volunteers and donors. Meanwhile, volunteers get a new way to give back in their local areas, while employers tell us that volunteerism encourages teamwork and builds morale."
About the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF)

The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation was established in 1994 and is completely directed and funded by the insurance industry. The foundation seeks to help communities and enrich lives by uniting the collective strengths of the industry to provide grants, volunteer service and leadership. Since its inception in 1994, IICF has contributed more than $16 million in grants to charities and 140,000 volunteer hours to hundreds of community nonprofit organizations.