Holding The Rough Notes Company Community Service Award are winner Richard Lees (left), Siegert-Lees Insurance Agency, Pana, Illinois, and Robert Kretzmer, whose idea was the basis for the award. Also appearing are (from left) Judy Lees; Michael Tate, Professional Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois; Walter Gdowski, The Rough Notes Company; Laura Richter, Professional Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois; Roland Carlson, Pana Community Hospital; and Rosemary Carlson.
ery honored." "Feel unworthy." "Only wanted to help out a little." "A lot of people do more than I do."
Those were just a few of the comments delivered in sincere humility by the honorees of the second annual Rough Notes Company Community Service Award for which the winner and two runners-up were saluted February 28th in special ceremonies at the Westin Hotel-Downtown in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Richard A. (Dick) Lees, owner of Siegert-Lees Insurance Agency of Pana, Illinois, is the 2001 recipient of the prestigious Community Service Award. Honorable Mention accolades went to D. Wayne Coffey of Towson, Maryland, and Frank D. Spicer, Jr., from Fairfax, Virginia.
Conceived by Robert N. Kretzmer, CIC, awards selection chairman, and underwritten and coordinated by The Rough Notes Company, the award recognizes insurance agencies, agents and brokers who serve their communities with extraordinary service that benefits less fortunate people.
Dick Lees, who clearly exemplifies the characteristics of selfless service for others, received this year's Community Service Award for his leadership role in raising funds for Pana Community Hospital's new Emergency Department. His story personifies the adage that ". . . when something needs to be done, find a busy man to do it."
The hospital in Pana, a city of 6,000 persons in south-central Illinois, serves a population area of approximately 34,000 in Christian, Shelby, Montgomery and Fayette counties. Its antiquated emergency room could handle only two patients simultaneously, and an overflow area could accommodate only one more. On average about 10 patients were admitted to the emergency room each day. Additional space became a necessity.
Private citizens and local businesses quickly came to the rescue, with Dick Lees, among others, at the forefront of the effort. A veteran member of the PCH Foundation board, Lees volunteered to be a tri-chairman of the capital campaign to attract community funding for the new emergency facility. From its late 1999 beginning, the project was completed in only 13 months. Lees, assisted by fellow Chairpersons John Metzger and Mike Trexler, helped raise $500,000--nearly half of the project's total cost. The 2,700-square-foot addition is nearly 10 times the size of the old emergency room.
"Dick Lees' role in supporting this project, both from a fund-raising and a planning and implementation perspective, was key to its success," said PCH Chief Executive Officer Roland R. Carlson. "He was instrumental in supporting this crucial project which resulted in our emergency room's ability to serve a patient increase of 15% last December, its first month of active operation."
Carlson, who accompanied Richard Lees and his wife, Judy, to Indianapolis for the awards ceremony, continues: "Over the years, Dick has been on the hospital's board of directors. He was president in 1994. I've also known him as the Pana Rotary Club's secretary, and am aware of his activity in the foreign student exchange program conducted by Rotarians. He continually sets an example for others. A very modest person, Dick Lees is, above all, a gentleman."
At the ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of the new 2,700-square-foot addition to the PCH emergency facility are (from left) Pana Community Hospital Foundation Director Mitzi Stepping, Roland Carlson, Dick Lees, and critical care staff.
Mitzi Stepping, director of the Pana Community Hospital Foundation, also commended Lees' contributions. "We are indeed fortunate to have Dick Lees as a part of our Emergency Room Capital Campaign ... Without his dedication and devotion to our hospital, our Emergency Department would not be a reality.
"As an independent insurance agent, Dick Lees is knowledgeable, helpful, trustworthy, and dedicated," Stepping continued. "He not only is an asset to our community but we personally know that he is an asset to the insurance industry. He is a dedicated insurance agent and has an excellent reputation as such in our community."
When Lees was asked to comment about his selection as Community Service Award honoree, his reply was true to form. Modest.
"I'm honored, of course, to be singled out like this. But I don't look upon it as having done anything special. The whole community typically responded so well because everyone recognized that the additional emergency room space was such an obvious need. I just played a small part in helping to get the word out. I did get one bit of personal satisfaction from it, though. A long time ago I was born in that very same hospital.
The Rough Notes Company made a contribution in Frank Spicer's name to the Annandale Christian Community for Action. The ACCA collects and distributes donated furniture to needy families in the communities of Annandale and Falls Church, Virginia.
"Now that the project's completed I'm still active with some other organizations in town, but only as a member . . . doing a few things with each group, but not heading up any big programs. I figure I'm the one who benefits ... by staying in touch with people and keeping up on what's going on in our town."
Tom Latonis, managing editor of Pana's local newspaper, keeps tabs on his town's leading citizens. He cites the following among activities that Lees modestly "forgot" to mention: re-starting Pana's Jaycees chapter several years ago; chairman of the annual Labor Day Parade committee (downstate Illinois' largest parade); Chamber of Commerce president; sponsor of youth sports programs; high school sports booster club member. "I cannot imagine," says Latonis, "some of the accomplishments of the past 20 years here being done without his influence and hard work. Is it any wonder that Dick Lees was presented with the Pana Jaycees Distinguished Service Award? It's the highest honor a volunteer in our community can receive."
Clearly, it's also no wonder that Dick Lees, a career insurance professional, is The Rough Notes Company's Community Service Award winner this year. He joins Al Singer, the initial recipient, on the award's honor roll. Singer, president of Singer Nelson Charlmers in Teaneck, New Jersey, was spotlighted last year for founding People Against Children Starving (PACS). (Related stories appeared in the April 2000, and January 2001, issues of Rough Notes).
The Rough Notes Company presented a $5,000 check to PACS, as Singer's charity in 2000, and has issued a check in that same amount to Pana Community Hospital this year. An engraved Eagle memento was presented to each honoree.
Selection Committee Chairman Bob Kretzmer offered the idea for this annual award as a salute to insurance professionals who go the extra mile to serve their communities.
"As an industry, we've often been accused of reacting, rather than being pro-active. But agents, brokers and agencies are integral parts of our communities. Yes, we're employers, we hire locally, and we provide insurance. Yet beyond that, a lot of us get involved with charities. Agents help people. So I got to thinking one day a couple of years ago that instituting a national community service award for our industry would help the public understand some of the many good things our people do . . . in addition to insurance business.
D. Wayne Coffey (left) receives his honorable mention award from Bob Kretzmer.
"I personally knew of many agents who were performing selfless acts of local service," Kretzmer continues. "If these acts were recognized nationally, we'd not only enhance our public image but would hopefully encourage others among us to engage in similar charitable types of community programs."
Kretzmer, himself, is active in the "Hand to Hand" program, which provides food to needy families in the Potomac, Maryland, area. He is principal of Dygve-Kretzmer Insurance Services of Chantilly, Virginia, and a former president of the CPIA Society. Kretzmer and Rough Notes Company officials intend to continue this annual award program as a reminder that agents and brokers can make a positive difference in their communities, such as Dick Lees' Pana, Illinois, contributions, and those that honorable mention winners D. Wayne Coffey and Frank D. Spicer, Jr., have made to theirs.
Wayne Coffey founded his Towson, Maryland, agency, Coffey & Company, Inc., in 1992 and immediately instituted a corporate mission statement that included a major focus on community service.
"Even though the majority of insurance people were doing great things in providing charitable service to their towns' citizens and organizations, a good many folks still gave our industry a bad name. We wanted to help set a good example," Coffey explains. Coffey & Company has done just that, especially with its efforts benefiting the Baltimore Child Abuse Center.
The Rough Notes Company made a contribution in Wayne Coffey's name to the Baltimore Child Abuse Center where he has volunteered time, money and leadership for many years. Among the services provided by the Center are comprehensive medical and crisis counseling services for victims of child sexual abuse, and their non-offending caretakers.
"Mr. Coffey has been on our board for the past two years," says the Center's executive director, Peggy Mainor. "But long before that he donated his time and leadership to help our staff manage more effectively. It is a pleasant surprise to find an organization, such as his, making that extra effort to show caring concern for vulnerable children in our city. Coffey and Company's unyielding commitment is both a rarity and a blessing."
The Rough Notes Company President and CEO Walt Gdowski (right) expresses the company's appreciation to Bob Kretzmer for his efforts as Community Service Award Selection Committee Chairman.
Emblematic of Coffey's honorable mention citation, The Baltimore Child Abuse Center received a $500 check from Rough Notes. The Center provides victims of child sexual abuse, and their non-offending caretakers, with comprehensive medical and crisis counseling services, and ensures
the efficient investigation of more than 1,200 cases of alleged sexual abuse
per year.
Coffey & Company regularly donates monies to purchase juice, chips and food for the Center's children, and arranges transportation for families who cannot otherwise get to appointments. Recently Coffey donated a copy machine.
"This past holiday season" Coffey recalls, "we conducted a toy drive for the children who visited the Center in December. We just felt that every one of the children should have a toy, perhaps a stuffed animal, or maybe a video game." Whenever someone commends Wayne Coffey for this kind of community service, he graciously acknowledges the kind words but quickly gives credit instead to the Coffey agency's people as a whole.
Following the awards presentation, Coffey commented, "I came away from the awards ceremony with a renewed sense of mission about what I have tried to create within my agency. A mission based on integrity, professionalism and competence."
One Saturday morning about 14 years ago a friend from his church asked Frank D. Spicer to help deliver some furniture to a couple of needy families. Spicer agreed. He's seldom missed a Saturday furniture run since then.
That chance phone call requesting his strong back got Frank Spicer connected with the Annandale (Virginia) Christian Community for Action (ACCA). The 33-year old organization involves 22 churches of many denominations, relying on a core group of dedicated volunteers who collect and distribute donated furniture to needy families in the Annandale and Falls Church communities. ACCA also assists with a Meals on Wheels program, car repairs, and the counseling of women prisoners' families.
"Bedding, and especially cribs, are always needed, and ACCA does not have the financial ability to purchase the number required," said Don Di Spirito, ACCA president. "We are delighted to learn that Frank Spicer is being honored with the Rough Notes Community Service Award, for he serves as a model and witness to the critical response of the community to its most needy citizens."
Spicer, an independent agent who does the bulk of his business with Erie Insurance Group, also finds time to coach high school girls' basketball, appear frequently as guest speaker discussing auto insurance, attend scripture classes regularly, and serve as president of a high school booster club. There's also been time for Frank and his wife Sally to raise a family of five children, and for him to have finished in Erie's top 10 private passenger auto applications for the past three years. According to Erie Insurance executives David Miller and George Lucore, " ... Frank Spicer, pound for pound, is one of the best insurance agents we know and one of the best people we know."
Upon receiving the honorable mention commendation, for which $500 is presented to ACCA in his name, Spicer said that he's ". . . very honored, but many agents doubtless do far more that I. I just wanted to help a little in the community where I've lived all my life." Evidently his definition of "a little" is more than a little understated.
The Rough Notes Company Community Service Award and honorable mention laurels are presented every February. Readers can nominate insurance industry candidates for 2002 awards on forms that will be published in Rough Notes magazine later this year. *
The author
Bob Bloss is a freelance writer based in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.