Today we’re participating and helping out at the Central New Jersey Claims Association’s annual golf event. We’re at Mercer Oaks Municipal Golf Course in Windsor Township. There are seventeen foursomes roaming the links trying not to hurt themselves or anyone else.
The proceeds of the event go to Kids’ Chance of New Jersey, a wonderful organization providing scholarships to children of workers who have been “seriously, catastrophically or fatally injured in a work-related injury.” The three New Jersey claims associations, led by the Central (you guessed it – the others are North and South), are deeply serious about helping these children.
The New Jersey chapter of Kids’ Chance was formed in 2012 when the Central Association awarded its first scholarship. This year the number rose to 15 and totaled $125,000.
Right now, one of the early scholarship recipients, Scott Kwiatek, whose Dad was killed in a workplace explosion when Scott was two months old, is running a putting contest a stone’s throw from where I write this. This is what Scott says about his scholarship:
“Before receiving the … Kids’ Chance of New Jersey scholarship, I could only afford to go to a community college. This award has truly changed my life, because now I am able to attend my dream college, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, to pursue a career in Civil Engineering. Words cannot express how grateful I am.”
Claims adjusters sometimes have to deal with awful stuff, workers who are profoundly injured, sometimes killed. Every once in a while they get to see tragedy up close and personal, families devastated by the loss of a parent due to a workplace injury. That sort of thing is difficult to deal with; it can harden a person. It’s gratifying, indeed, to see this group of adjuster professionals giving so much of themselves (and having a good time doing it!) to help children victimized so early in life.
Tags: Kids' Chance
