Farmers Insurance to Increase Volunteers in Monmouth County This Summer

SEA BRIGHT, N.J., July 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Farmers Insurance^sm today announced that the company will deploy more than 100 employee and agent volunteers through the remainder of the summer to bolster local efforts led by nonprofit organization St. Bernard Project to rebuild Monmouth and Ocean County homes affected by 2012's Superstorm Sandy.

Beginning now through August 31, during the St. Bernard Project's "Summer at the Shore" campaign, Farmers volunteers will work an estimated 1,500 hours to bring displaced residents home again. The commitment is an extension of one Farmers first made locally in June 2014 as part of a long-term initiative, Farmers Cares for Communities, to provide assistance to communities in the wake of a disaster. To date, more than 400 Farmers employee and agent volunteers have worked more than 13,000 hours on 15 homes in Monmouth County.

Farmers first teamed up with the St. Bernard Project in Joplin, Mo., where more than 500 Farmers employee and agent volunteers clocked 16,000 hours, rebuilding more than 50 homes destroyed by an EF5 tornado in 2011. The two also joined to develop the Disaster Recovery Playbook, a compilation of best practices communities need to know before and after a disaster strikes.  The Disaster Recover Playbook allows future recoveries to stand on the shoulders of recoveries that preceded them, dramatically reducing recovery time.

"As a leading personal lines insurer, we simply see too much disaster," said Deborah Aldredge, chief administrative officer at Farmers Insurance. "We wanted to do something to get these communities back on their feet as soon as possible, so we took action by partnering with the St. Bernard Project."

"Farmers has a history of being the first insurer on the scene to help in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, and now three years after Superstorm Sandy, they're also proving to be the last," said Sarah Sievert, director of St. Bernard Project's Sea Bright office. "They truly are providing the much needed muscle to bring families home this summer."

The St. Bernard Project reports that as word spreads throughout the community about its success, the organization is receiving increasing requests for help.

About Farmers Insurance
Farmers Insurance Group of Companies is a leading U.S. insurer group of automobiles, homes and small businesses and also provides a wide range of other insurance and financial services products. Farmers Insurance is proud to serve more than 10 million households with over 19 million individual policies across all 50 states through the efforts of over 50,000 exclusive and independent agents and approximately 22,000 employees. Farmers Insurance Exchange, the largest of the three primary insurance entities that make up the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies® is ranked No. 264 on the 2015 Fortune 500 list of largest companies.

For more information about Farmers, visit its Web site at www.farmers.com, on Twitter @WeAreFarmers or at www.Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.

About Sea Bright Rising
Sea Bright Rising is a non-profit organization devoted to the relief of the needy and/or displaced and the general recovery of the town of Sea Bright, New Jersey as a result of the devastation created by Hurricane Sandy in the Fall of 2012. Sea Bright Rising has partnered with St. Bernard Project, a national disaster recovery nonprofit organization. This partnership has transitioned Sea Bright Rising's focus to the long-term recovery of the community and its residents post-sandy through a residential rebuilding program.

(Editors Note: Farmers Insurance volunteers will host welcome-home celebrations and work to rebuild homes this summer in Monmouth County. For more information and to ensure you are invited to an event this summer, please contact Farmers Media Relations.)

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SOURCE Farmers Insurance