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We are joined on Friday, September 22nd at the Farm Bureau headquarters. It’s my younger brothers birthday. He is turning 28 today. His first baby is due on October 22nd. Isn’t that neat? You know what they say about competition? Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. Your favorite local independent insurance agent is happy to step foot in the insurance company down the road. They do things pretty well over here. I don’t have many complaints. I brought my friend Ariel Dixon today. She’s going to be running this place in a few years. You heard it here first. We started our meeting late by reciting the four way test. Michelle Lantz gave our reflection for the day. She recalled her roots growing up on a farm in Michigan. Michelle said she has been using Farm Bureau for years. She loves them. I’m not even going to try and poach Michelle from them. They CAME THROUGH for her multiple times during claims scenarios. What a testament to the power of insurance – we put lives back together and provide peace of mind during life’s unexpected challenges. She told some jokes: “Farming isn’t for everyone – Hey its in my jeans”  “My father was a great farmer – he’s outstanding in his field” The reflection asked for wisdom, strength and endurance, protection and proper nutrition – gratefulness for farmers. Dick Ammons was transferred to a long-term care facility and his health is declining. We had several guests today in the beautiful Farm Bureau headquarters. It is recently renovated. It’s way cooler than my office. Next Saturday from ten to noon there is a volunteer gig. An email is forthcoming. In October, we will be doing a book drive. Every Friday bring your books and we will collect them and they will be sent to local schools. Books for kids. When kids read, we all win. Our special music today was from a senior at DeWitt High School. John didn’t even realize until last week what a star she is! She is legit! Kanin Wren is currently releasing singles and making her first record. That’s not her real name, but I didn’t catch that. My guest just whispered to me it’s Thelen. I’ll take her word for it. She is playing a main role in Oklahoma! Soon. She recently got to do The Taylor Swift Experience road show. She sang “All Too Well” and an original song of her own. You can find it anywhere you get your music – called “Could Have Been.” I really hope she bought her guitar at Elderly Instruments. Going to brag on my wife real quick – Elderly Instruments was just named in the Top 70 Small Businesses in America by the US Chamber of Commerce out of over 15,000 applicants! Wish them luck in taking home the top prize! Did y’all see Taylor Swift tried getting young people registered to vote this week? 35,000 young adults! Outstanding! Send to all your kids. Do your part. Our speaker was introduced by Michelle Reynaert. Don Simon is her board chair AKA boss at the Sparrow Foundation. He also runs this Farm Bureau company we are at today. He opened with a Dad Joke. I tried typing it. Too long. It got some good laughs.  Michigan Farm Bureau has been around for 104 years. Some farmers got together over a century ago. And here we are. Their membership organization advocates for Farm Bureau and is held by households. Currently, Michigan Farm Bureau has over 200,000 households and likely over one million members. For a mere $50, you get the benefits of being a Farm Bureau member. The insurance company was founded in 1949. They write both property and casualty insurance as well as life insurance. They currently have over $25 billion of active life insurance in force. He gave a plug for life insurance – gotta second him on that. Saved my life when my dad died. GET ALL THE LIFE INSURANCE YOU CAN. He knows we are here for the renovations. Not to talk about insurance. I get it. People don’t want to talk to me about my job either. They renovated the building in hopes of recruiting and retaining top talent. 171,000 square feet over 25 acres. The design of the building was heavily influenced by the employees of Farm Bureau. That’s what I call great leadership. The building is open concept but still has private areas. It took three years to renovate this building and they showed preference for Michigan contractors and partners. He hopes that they are not going to be known as “the building by Horrocks” and instead Horrocks will be known as “the building by Farm Bureau.” Good luck with that. Great building, but that is quite the stiff competition across the street. Their core purpose is to help solve childhood hunger in the State of Michigan. Their board of directors is made up of all farmers which allows them to keep the pulse on what farmers want. They are advocating for getting younger talent involved in the farming industry as well. Michigan Farm Bureau has about 1,100 employees. They have about 60% market share in the farm market. While they are headquartered here in Lansing, Farm Bureau has a large footprint throughout the entire state of Michigan. Nationally, Farm Bureau has about $20 billion in premium which would place them in the top ten property and casualty insurers in the country. 98% of farms are family owned. Only 2% are corporations. Michigan is also the second most agriculturally diverse state in the country. Only California is higher on the rankings than our Great Lakes state.  Don spoke about bringing high school insurance students in to Farm Bureau. They partner with Eaton RESA and as long as the students behave, they guarantee them summer jobs. Gotta give Farm Bureau a shoutout for their involvement in this program. I, too, am involved in high school insurance programs and Spreading the Gospel is so incredibly important. Don and his team answered several questions from the Peanut Gallery. Nick thanked Don and the entire Farm Bureau team for their hospitality before they offered tours to Rotarians. A reminder that next weeks meeting is a social at Lansing Brewing Company on Thursday. Kevin Schumaker was my assigned mentor when I joined Rotary. Questionable that we put him in front of our youth – but the damage has already been done. While my father had just so many positive qualities, one of his few flaws was underappreciating Kevin’s sense of humor. That will not be lost on me. It is important that we pay honor to those that came before us and all Editarians moving forward should not forget that Kevin is the greatest Editarian of all time. I said it. Willing to die on that hill. Until next time. Ben Rathbun's email is: ben@rathbunagency.com |
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bring your new or gently used children to young adult age books to any Club Meeting in October. We will be distributing them to the local schools in Lansing. Thanks for your support of reading and Rotary!