Agents serve their causes with gusto--
from bike paths to Big Brothers/Big Sisters
to health and education
Gregory Query (center) of the Query Insurance Agency in Rochelle, Illinois, is the winner of the Community Service Award presented by the Professional Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois (PIIAI). At the left is PIIAI President Paul Verisario. At the right is Walt Gdowski, president and CEO of The Rough Notes Company.
The Professional Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois (PIIAI) presented its first-ever Community Service Award to Greg Query of the Query Insurance Agency in Rochelle for his tireless work in creating a bike path and getting working bikes to needy kids. Query received a check for $1,000 payable to the Flagg-Rochelle Park District--the organization he worked with to create the bike path in Rochelle, a town of 9,500 in the northwestern corner of Illinois.
The completion of the four-mile bike path in 2000, was the culmination of seven years of work for Query and his wife, Peri. They designed the path, solicited the land donations and obtained 90% of the construction costs through grants from the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. "The project originally received some criticism, as all public projects do," Query noted in a PIIAI publication. "However, we weathered the storm and the town now raves about the path project."
It wasn't only exercise-minded adults that Query had in mind when he conceived the project. Query loves kids, and he particularly wants kids who have not had many material advantages to be able to enjoy biking. In conjunction with the local sheriff's department, he started a program called "Coke to Spokes." Drug money confiscated by the sheriff pays for parts to repair unclaimed bicycles and donate them to needy families. Query provides the labor to repair the bikes.
Kids also became involved in the bike path project when a sixth grade class helped plant an arboretum along the path.
Not content to rest now that the bike path has become a reality, Query is attempting to extend the path by five additional miles. He has submitted applications to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and hopes to have the path extension completed by 2004. Query also helped establish, early in 2001, the Flagg-Rochelle Park Foundation, which will enable the park district to more readily receive donations.
Query's interest in improving the quality of outdoor life extends beyond his local community. He works with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, six counties in northwestern Illinois and Blackhawk Resource Conservation & Development to complete the northwestern segment of the Grand Illinois Trail.
When the PIIAI started taking applications for its first Community Service Award early this year, it began to learn a lot about the scope of community service among Illinois agents. The association decided, in addition to the Community Service Award, which was presented to Query at their annual convention, to recognize 11 other nominees for the award. A list of those agents and a brief description of their charitable endeavors appears below.
Kevin Breheny
J.L. Hubbard Insurance and Bonds
Decatur
Fund-raising and volunteering time for a variety of education- and religious-based organizations
Among the organizations Breheny has helped with fund-raising are: The Oasis Day Center, the Richland Community College Foundation Board and the Catholic Dioceses of Springfield.
Gerald Butts
Cleveland Insurance Group
Moline
Transformation of an economically depressed down-town area into a thriving business district
Butts' work involved obtaining major support from Deere & Co. Eventually the state of Illinois provided $2 million for the economic revitalization effort.
Tim Griffith
Griffith Insurance Agency
Effingham
Fund-raising and volunteering time for the American Red Cross
Griffith helped organize a bike-a-thon and a Golf Scramble to raise money for his county's Red Cross chapter. He also personally assists fire victims who are being aided by the Red Cross.
Richard Lees
Siegert-Lees Insurance Agency
Pana
Fund-raising for a hospital emergency room
The hospital in Pana, built in 1914, serves a population of 34,000 in four counties; and until a year ago, its emergency room could hold only two patients at a time, with one more in an overflow area. Lees chaired a building campaign that made the emergency room 10 times larger.
Michael McHugh
McHugh Insurance Agency, Inc.
Manhattan
Promotion of youth travel
McHugh serves as member/chairperson of the Irish-American Society County of Will. That organization's "The Irish Way" program sends teenagers to Ireland to study for six weeks.
Jay Paszotta
Munson Insurance Agency
Dekalb
Fund-raising for Big Brothers and Big Sisters
Paszotta and a team of 15 people from a local church participate in a Bowl for Kids' Sake fund-raiser. The event raises 76% of the annual budget of Big Brothers and Big Sisters in Dekalb County.
Steve Ritchie
Ritchie and Associates
Rolling Meadows
Fund-raising for camp for children with cancer
Ritchie hosts a golf outing to raise money for a camp for children with cancer and leukemia. The event raised $40,000 in the first two years it was held.
Cedric Sberna
Sberna Insurance Agency
Lake Forest
Fund-raising for women and children shelters
The Sberna Agency is a major sponsor and fund-raiser for the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Junior Women's Club Christmas Times event--the organization's largest fund-raiser. Sberna also plays Santa Claus at the event, which raises money for local shelters that provide transitional care to women and children in crisis.
James Turk
Swank Insurance Agency
Waukegan
Support for learning enrich-ment in elementary schools
The Swank Agency has sponsored a program that promotes dialogue between the business world and elementary school children.
Tom Walsh
TW Group, Inc.
Westmont
Fund-raising for the American Cancer Society
Walsh serves on the American Cancer Society's Hoops for Life Committee, and his agency sponsors a basketball court for the annual event. Hoops for Life is a national three-day, three-on-three basketball tournament. Last year the Illinois event included 18 tournaments that raised more than $350,000.
Karen Yarbrough
Hathaway Insurance Agency, Inc.
Maywood
Promoting academic excellence in high school and scholarships for college
As president of the Maywood Chamber of Commerce, Yarbrough helped boost participation in the town's Gold Card Program, which provides local students with incentives to reach honor roll status. It also provides college scholarships. The scholarships awarded jumped from 1 in 1988 to 12 in 1997-98 to 14 in 1999. *