One thing many might not know about the Philadelphia insurance community is its ongoing participation in philanthropic events. One popular event, for example, is the Greater Philadelphia Insurance Community Day of Service, in which many insurers and brokers volunteer for the day at organizations throughout the Philadelphia area. 

It's easy to make a monetary donation or roll your sleeves up, but there are other ways to really make an impact:

Enter St. Baldrick's, a volunteer-driven charity in which people sign up as “shavees” who shave their heads as a symbol of solidarity with kids with cancer, who often lose their hair during treatment. In the process, the shavees raise much-needed funds for pediatric cancer research in the weeks leading up to the event. St. Baldrick's is committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long, healthy lives. 

What started as a challenge between insurance colleagues almost 15 years ago has now grown to raise of tens of millions of dollars for childhood cancer research. In fact, the foundation funds more in childhood cancer research grants than any organization other than the U.S. government.

April 9 is Philly I-Day (held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philly), which includes speaker panels and breakout sessions for professionals and students within the insurance industry. For the third year in a row, we will conclude Philly I-Day with an event to benefit St. Baldrick's.

In preparation for last year's event, those of us who participated challenged each other daily in the efforts to raise as much money as possible. When the final donations were calculated, we had collected more than $60,000, surpassing our goal of $50,000, and blowing the prior year's fundraising total out of the water while creating a fun competition in the process. 

Following in last year's footsteps, the 2014 St. Baldrick's I-Day committee has encouraged friendly challenges among members of the Philadelphia area insurance industry and local universities and we already have an extensive group of shavees who have signed up to help raise our current goal of $75,000.

Throughout the shavee recruitment process, some people question the idea of shaving their heads while working in a professional environment. I think they would be surprised at how much support and admiration they would receive from their peers in the industry. 

Last year, I shaved my head at the I-Day event in memory of my mother who passed away from cancer over five and-a-half years ago. For my mother, losing her hair signified loss and sadness. For me, shaving my head meant honoring her life and accomplishments, while remembering her strength and courage. 

I was amazed at the support I received from my peers, colleagues and clients leading up to and at the event, which ties back to how the insurance community is as a whole: supportive, compassionate and driven.

So there may be different reasons why we sign up to become shavees: friendly competition, personal experiences, a need for a haircut…anything. However, the reason why we sign up isn't as important as the kids we're helping simply by sitting in a chair on a day in April that matters the most.

In the interest of the competition, I challenge anyone reading this in the insurance community of Philadelphia to join the shavees listed below to help us exceed our goal for the 2014 Philly I-Day St. Baldrick's event:

Steve Larzelere – AIG

Kevin Haas – AIG

A.J. Weiner – AON

Barry Weiner – AON

Justin Williams – Aramark

Patrick DiNicola – CorVel

Phil Coyne – ECBM

Chris DeCesare – ECBM

Edward Hanna – Insurance Society NextGen

Lou Carboni, Jr. – Lockton

Bill Barnett – Marsh

Jean-Paul Rebillard – Marsh

Michael Pettinelli – Marsh

Jonathan Backlund – Navigators

Paul Sariego – Philadelphia Contributionship

Steve Miller – St. Josephs University

Kelly Ormsby – St. Joseph's University.

For more information, check out the website for the 2014 Philly I-Day Event here.
 

AIG's Stephanie Axelrod serves as an Underwriting Specialist for WorldSource/AIG Property Casualty. Contact her at [email protected].