Wearin' O' The Green Aids Tsunami Victims

By Mark E. Ruquet

NU Online News Service, March 25, 11:06 a.m. EST?The memory of the tsunami that struck parts of Asia and West Africa shortly after Christmas last year may be fading from memory, but one Minnesota agency recently committed itself for a day to helping the victims.[@@]

RJF Agencies Inc., based in Minneapolis, Minn., recently collected $8,663 earmarked for families in strife-torn Sri Lanka.

RJF was one of four agencies receiving an Honorable Mention in the National Underwriter Commercial Insurance Agency of the Year Award in 2003.

The funds were collected during the firm's second annual St. Patrick's Day celebration and donated to the American Refugee Committee International's Tsunami Relief program. The donations consisted of employee contributions matched by the firm.

While originally planned as a "fun day" for the staff the first year, explained Jeff Mulfinger, marketing communications specialist, it also became a charity event to help someone locally who needed medical assistance.

The fundraiser was the idea of Mary Beth Yeager, human resource director, who was moved by reports of the devastation that remains in the aftermath of the Dec. 26 disaster.

"RJF employees are extremely generous individuals," she said in a statement. "Not only did they invest significant resources into the bid items, but they showed compassion and an eagerness to help by continually raising their bids on those items."

The items selected for the fundraiser included donations for a company lunch and bidding on goods and services offered by other employees. Among the items were a trip to British Columbia, a $500 gift card and a homemade breakfast by a pair of salespeople.

"This was something RJF could do to help improve these peoples' lives," noted Bill Jeatran, RJF's chief executive officer. "It's the right thing to do, plain and simple."

Mr. Mulfinger noted that RJF's Charity Committee has contributed between $15,000 and $20,000 in the past 12 months on charitable activities locally.

He noted that such activities as the St. Patrick's Day party could be purely fun events, but there is a conscious calling to do more.

"We look at these efforts as doing a lot more good by doing the right thing," he noted.

Information on the American Refugee Committee International is available at www.archq.org.

Special Reports /

Wearin' O' The Green Aids Tsunami Victims

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