State Farm gives where they live

Submitted by Kerynn Fisher
Phone: (907) 474-6941
12/19/03

With a recent donation to the University of Alaska Museum, State Farm Insurance Companies could adapt their motto "We live where you live." to "We live - and give - where you live."

Thanks to the work of the Fairbanks area State Farm agents, the Illinois-based company donated $100,000 to the museum’s education department to support the development of new programs for schoolchildren and families. It is one of the corporation’s largest gifts to an Alaskan organization this year.

"At State Farm, we’re committed to improving the quality of life of the communities where our associates live and work," says State Farm Alaska Field Executive Kent Boothman. "This donation is a direct reflection of the quality of the programs the museum provides for youth and families in the Fairbanks area and the commitment of State Farm’s Fairbanks team to seeing these programs grow."

Funding from State Farm will be applied to a variety of projects in the museum’s education department - from adapting the popular summer visitor program Northern Inua for elementary and middle school audiences to updating the museum’s traveling science kits to reflect new aurora research by UAF’s Geophysical Institute. The museum’s school tour programs, teacher resource kits and family gallery guides will all benefit from the State Farm funding as well.

Fairbanks State Farm agent Jack Randolph and Anchorage-based Kent Boothman were key advocates for the donation. Randolph encouraged the museum’s education department to submit the proposal to State Farm’s corporate office. After touring the museum with an Alaska State Chamber group and seeing the connection between the research and education programs, Boothman added his support to the project.

This year, in addition to the museum donation, State Farm Insurance Companies donated $100,000 to Alaska Pacific University using the Alaska Education Tax Credit and more than $75,000 in other donations to organizations promoting education, safety and community development in Alaska’s communities. Independent of the corporation’s philanthropic giving, local State Farm agents also pool their resources to support a wide variety of programs for youth and families in the Fairbanks area.

For more information, contact University of Alaska Museum Communications Coordinator Kerynn Fisher at (907) 474-6941 or State Farm Public Affairs Specialist Nancy Carpenter at (253) 912-7257.