Agents for the Community
presented by
Watauga Insurance • Johnson City In this series, Penn National Insurance and Insurors are recognizing some of the work our members do for their communities. During Convention, the new "Penn National Agents for the Community" Award will be presented to one of the featured agencies.
The Insuror: Why is community service such an important part of your agency? Watauga Ins.: For 47 years, Watauga Insurance has been serving the community. Whether it be through protecting business or families, service is what we do, it’s in our DNA. So it’s only natural to serve our community in different ways. Community service creates a better sense of inclusion and understanding to what is happening in our area. The end goal is to help others which makes our community a better place to live.
The Insuror: What are some of the main causes/ groups you support? How and why did you get started with them? Watauga Ins.: The Boys and Girls Club (BGC) of Johnson City/ Washington Co. and Lions Club of Johnson City are the two we’ve had the longest connection with. Our CEO, Ed Gibbons, is a past president and now on the Advisory Board of BGC while our president, Josh Gibbons, has served on their Board for over 15 years, serving as President three times in that span. Josh was a Club kid for sports growing up and still wants to help kids achieve their full potential, especially those less fortunate. Ed’s experience with the Lions Club dates over 40 years.
for screenings to hopefully identify kids who might have an eye problem or just need glasses in order to help them learn). Other organizations we support through our time, money or talent are The Salvation Army, The Coalition for Kids, Rise Up!, Girls, Inc., LXI, Steppenstone Youth Treatment Services, and Science Hill High School – just to name a few.
The Insuror: What do you think it means to clients to see their insurance agent involved in their community? Watauga Ins.: In our opinion, quiet support without accolade can go a lot further for your reputation. Being involved in your community shows commitment to serving others. When a client sees that you’re engaged and plugged in to making things better for the right reasons, hopefully they would value the effort and build a stronger relationship, especially if that client has a similar passion and calling to serve.
The Insuror: Do you feel this service work adds to the "staff culture" of your agency? Watauga Ins.: Absolutely! Serving others takes the focus off of "self". At times we can get so caught up in our own issues, but when you truly focus on serving the needs of others – or help others that may be less fortunate – it can be very humbling and helpful in putting things in perspective. Our agency prides itself on relationships and service. Community service adds to these strengths and makes us a better team, for each other and to our clients.
The Insuror: How could our industry as a whole do a better job of supporting the communities they insure?
Ed Gibbons (R) with fellow Lions Club volunteers
A few ways we help the Lions Club is through their annual Pecan sale (we just had 75 cases of pecans delivered to the office which we now must distribute to various members), eye screening applications (our staff answered almost 300 calls last year for folks needing assistance with eye exams and glasses), and kids eye screenings (Ed and Josh have gone to numerous elementary and middle schools, daycares, and head starts 46
Watauga Ins.: We think the carriers do a good job of serving the communities in which they’re located. And in Tennessee our independent agency system does a great job of supporting each other during catastrophic times (floods, tornadoes, wildfires). There is, and always will be, great need out there. Perhaps, companies could ask their agents about what are the greatest needs in their communities and find a way to support those causes that address those needs.
The Insuror: Thank you for giving us your time, and we appreciate the work you're doing. Watauga Ins.: Thank you, and to Penn National, for highlighting the ways our industry is making our communities better. u The Tennessee Insuror
