GREELEY, Colo., (April 20, 2011) - State Farm Insurance has awarded a Good Neighbor Citizenship grant of $20,000 to Wildlands Restoration Volunteers (WRV) for their work re-seeding the area effected by the Fourmile Canyon wildfire.
WRV is a non-profit organization that provides opportunities for communities to learn about the environment and play a role in restoring and caring for public lands and protected spaces.
What began as a $100 donation to the non-profit organization from State Farm Agent Sherry Dickerson grew into a $20,000 company grant thanks to WRV volunteer and State Farm policyholder Susan Wise.
“When I went to my agent, Sherry Dickerson, and asked if she would consider a personal donation to WRV, she generously gave $100,” said State Farm policyholder Susan Wise. “That got me thinking that maybe State Farm would be interested in donating to WRV, too.”
Dickerson quickly connected her customer to State Farm’s company grant coordinator for Colorado, Tamara Pachl.
“We were excited to hear about the restoration work WRV is doing,” said Pachl. “It fits very well with State Farm’s mission of helping communities recover following a disaster like we saw with the Fourmile Canyon wildfire.”
On Saturday, April 9, atop a mountain in the heart of the affected area at the Sunshine Fire House, Dickerson and State Farm Agent Helen Wagner and her staff presented the $20,000 to WRV Director Ed Self with more than 100 volunteers - men, woman and children - looking on.
“We’re very grateful to State Farm for the gift, which will cover the costs of these [re-seeding] projects, pay for extra seed and sandbagging materials,” said Self.
According to WRV, Saturday was the ninth of 10 scheduled re-seeding events. Lists of volunteers interested in helping those affected by the Fourmile Fire have been full for months, with several volunteers waitlisted due to the interest of the community.
State Farm Agents have been proud members of the Boulder community for more than 50 years.
Tamara Pachl, State Farm Insurance (970) 395-5252.
State Farm insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the U.S., is the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer in Canada. State Farm's 17,700 agents and more than 67,000 employees serve 81 million policies and accounts - almost 79 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and more than 1.9 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 31 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com® or in Canada statefarm.ca®.
