Colonial Life names Cathy Brooks Volunteer of the Year
May 14, 2014
Annual award recognizes employee for significant contributions to community
COLUMBIA, SC – Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company has named Cathy Brooks winner of its Volunteer of the Year award.
The award was presented this week at Colonial Life’s national headquarters in Columbia. It is given annually to a Columbia-based employee of Colonial Life or an affiliate of its parent company, Unum, who exhibits excellence in volunteer activities in the community, has a positive outlook about volunteerism, is an inspiration to his or her co-workers and whose activities have had a definite effect on the quality of life in the community.
Brooks initiated and leads a program at Colonial Life that supports Operation Write Home by sending handmade greeting cards to deployed soldiers. The soldiers can then send these cards to their family and friends back home. Brooks teaches other employees how to make the cards during lunch-hour and after-work classes and organizes periodic Any Hero Mail drives. She also has taught card-making classes at several churches, an assisted living facility and a scrapbook store.
“I do it because it’s personal.” Brooks said. “When a troop picks out my card, he or she knows that I made it with my own hands. When someone at home receives a card, it’s so special to know their loved one touched it and wrote in it.”
Since 2011, South Carolina has ranked in the top 10 nationally in the amount of Any Hero Mail sent to deployed troops, largely due to the effort Brooks leads at Colonial Life. Last year, South Carolina ranked 6th with 2,016 pieces of Any Hero Mail, 1,605 of them from Colonial Life. Brooks donated more than 370 hours of her time to this project in 2013. To date, Operation Write Home has received 6,194 blank cards and pieces of Any Hero Mail from Brooks and her program.
Brooks also supports active soldiers and military veterans by participating in drives for the USO Lounge at Columbia Metropolitan Airport and Dorn V.A. Medical Center. Her numerous other volunteer activities include providing “care packages” for children at Carolina Children’s Home, participating in drives for Harvest Hope Food Bank, stuffing holiday stockings for the Salvation Army, and making silent auction gifts for Colonial Life’s annual campaign for United Way of the Midlands.
“Community service has always been an important part of our company’s culture,” said Marie McGehee, community relations manager at Colonial Life. “Our civic and charitable efforts are one way we live our mission to create lasting partnerships in the places where we live and work.”
Colonial Life donated $1,000 in Brooks’ honor to her charity of choice, Operation Write Home.
Colonial Life and its employees contributed more than $2 million to charitable organizations in 2013, while employees donated nearly 12,500 hours of service to the community.
Other nominees for this year’s Volunteer of the Year award included Lauren Chess, employee communications manager; Chris Mele, national telephone team account services representative; Jeanna Moffett, media relations manager; and Barbara Webb, service operations consultant.
About Colonial Life
Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company is a market leader in providing financial protection benefits through the workplace, including disability, life, accident, cancer, critical illness and supplemental health insurance. The company’s benefit services and education, innovative enrollment technology and personal service support more than 80,000 businesses and organizations, representing more than 3 million working Americans and their families. For more information visit www.coloniallife.com or connect with the company at www.facebook.com/
