Summary: Safeco Insurance announces a local recipient of its first annual Community Hero Awards.

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Submitted by Bert Miller, The Miller Agency, Insurance, Navasota

 

Contacts:
Cheryl Engstrom
Engstrom Public Relations, 425-487-0682, cheryl@engstrompr.com
Paul Hollie
Safeco Insurance Media Relations, 206-473-5745, paulhol@safeco.com

Local Hero Saluted For Outstanding Community Service
Safeco Corporation Honors Each with $15,000
 
SEATTLE, Wash. (Feb. 18, 2008) — Safeco Insurance, a leading national insurance company, today announced a local recipient of its first annual Community Hero Awards. Thirty individuals from across the country have been selected to receive this award and today, Safeco honored and recognized the Washington, Texas recipient, Cynthia Parker Robertson, for her extraordinary dedication to helping others and inspiring change within her community.
 
Nominated by Safeco agent Bert Miller of The Miller Agency Inc. in Navasota for her tireless commitment to strengthening and enriching her community, Parker Robertson was presented with a $15,000 check for the non-profit organization at which she works and volunteers: the Lena Mae Farris Foundation.

“Safeco knows every neighborhood has heroes and saw this opportunity to partner with our agents to identify individuals special to them and their home towns,” says Virginia Anderson, President of the Safeco Insurance Foundation. “Safeco’s Community Hero Awards are intended to recognize and celebrate those individuals who make a positive difference in their community and inspire others to do the same.”

As Founder and Executive Director of the Lena Mae Farris Foundation, Parker Robertson works to meet the needs of minority populations—the elderly, the poor, women—in rural areas. Since the Foundation’s incorporation in 2003, she has developed five programs aimed at improving the lives of elderly residents in 19 Texas counties (mostly seniors in Brazos Valley) and has single-handedly given new meaning to our community's commitment to improving the health status of our neediest citizens. Parker Robertson’s educational background and professional experience in social work have contributed to her awareness of the obstacles our community faces in fulfilling that commitment for poor and elderly rural residents in particular.

Parker Robertson named the Lena Mae Farris Foundation after an altruistic African-American woman (Lena Mae Farris) affectionately known as Ma'Mae. Despite her poverty and poor health, Ms. Farris constantly gave to others, whether a warm meal or a warm jacket was needed. She exemplified the spirit of giving and neighbors caring for neighbors that Parker Robertson wanted to emulate with the Foundation in her name, and also typified the underserved populations Parker Robertson created the Foundation to serve. Ms. Farris died while the Foundation was still in the planning stages but her spirit lives on in the legacy of caring that characterizes the Foundation’s work.

One of the reasons Safeco agent Bert Miller nominated Parker Robertson for a Safeco Community Hero Award was Parker Robertson’s initiation and coordination of a transportation program for area seniors. Since its inception, the program has provided 1,005 rides to seniors in need of transportation to health care appointments. In completing those 1,005 trips, volunteers recruited and retained through hard work by Parker Robertson and the Foundation have driven over 10,000 miles.

Parker Robertson’s goal is to expand the transportation program to a full-service Grimes Health Resource Center, extending urban-based social and health services to the rural community. Parker Robertson intends the Center to be a hub for a network of Health Outposts ensuring all rural residents access to the resources they need to maintain their health and wellbeing. Safeco’s Community Hero Award will help enable Parker Robertson to realize these goals.

“Safeco agents around the country work with so many outstanding citizens. We are proud to be honoring this year's Community Hero Award recipients and hope our small contribution to their causes enables them to continue making a difference in the communities they serve," adds Danielle Clark, Safeco community relations director.  

About the Safeco Community Hero Awards
A total of $500,000 will be awarded nationwide through Safeco’s Community Hero Awards, an initiative of the Safeco Agent Giving Program supporting the civic engagement of Safeco agents.  Safeco's Community Hero Awards, in addition to other Safeco Corporation and Safeco Foundation gifts, contributed a total of $7.1 million to towns and cities across the country in 2007.

About Safeco Corporation
Safeco, in business since 1923, is a Fortune 500 property and casualty insurance company based in Seattle. The company sells insurance to drivers, home owners, and owners of small- and mid-sized businesses principally through a national network of independent agents and brokers.  Safeco is also one of the nation’s leaders in the sale and service of surety bonds.

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