National Life and our employees have mobilized this week to offer assistance to the people of southeast Texas in the midst of the ongoing floods caused by Hurricane Harvey.
The company is donating $50,000 to charities in the Houston region that are addressing immediate needs.
And many of the employees on the Texas campus have signed up to volunteer in the relief effort, particularly at evacuation sites that have been established in north Texas. We have some employees who live in or around Houston. Some of them have been personally affected by the flooding. And we have dozens of agents and partners in the region.
“Our corporate values to Do good, be good, and make good are more than just words,” CEO Mehran Assadi said in a news release announcing our contribution. “When we see an opportunity to help our neighbors, we do. The heart-wrenching scenes we’ve all seen in Houston are a call to action to do even more good.”
The company’s donation will be split between Americares, a health organization that helps communities respond to disasters, and the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, which was set up by Mayor Sylvester Turner at the Greater Houston Community Foundation to receive donations.
We’ve also helped with other donations, including diapers, wipes, baby food, bottled water and other supplies to Trusted World.
There are supply drives under way on both campuses.
Now that the waters are slowly receding in Houston, we are also exploring what options there are to send volunteers into the flood zone to help with the massive cleanup that will be needed.
Our efforts have inspired others to find ways to help. The property manager for our Addison campus, for example, asked to join our supply drive and we welcomed the interest. A solar installation company in Vermont has also contacted us about whether we can coordinate efforts.
On the business side, we are working with policyholders who will be able under IRS rules to access their retirement funds to help with the emergency.
Photo left: Jessica Anderson helps unload supplies.