Donations of Time, Labor and Money Help Families in Local Communities
Grapevine, Texas April 04, 2015
Helping Other People Everyday (HOPE) is more than a clever acronym for the staff, management and independently contracted Agents of USHEALTH Advisors. For them, it is a mission that is lived on a daily basis, an organizational commitment to make a positive difference in the lives of others.
USHA’s mission of Helping Other People Everyday was initiated in 2010 by Troy McQuagge, who had just been named President of the then, early-stage company. Today, USHEALTH Advisors and its parent company, USHEALTH Group, Inc. have experienced exponential growth, with McQuagge now serving as President and CEO of a corporation that executes at a level that is 8 times greater than when he began. For their first HOPE project, McQuagge and other company leaders partnered with the Phoenix of New Orleans (PNOLA) organization in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Together, they took on the task of rebuilding homes in some of the hardest hit areas of the city. The company volunteered hundreds of man-hours toward razing and restoration efforts to ensure safe and sound housing for residents of the lower Mid-City area of New Orleans.
USHA continued its mission of HOPE in 2011 when company leaders provided thousands of dollars’ worth of new shoes, clothing, baby formula and other needed supplies to The Crisis Nursery, a non-profit children’s shelter serving the Phoenix/Scottsdale metropolitan area. “Whenever we gather our USHA Leadership Team together for a business meeting, we also try to give something back to our host city”; said USHA’s Executive VP of Sales, Travis Yoder. “We believe our business should be about more than just commerce. We believe it should also be about people.”
When USHEALTH Advisors returned to Phoenix for its 2012 Leaders Meeting, the company once again fulfilled its mission of HOPE by presenting a check for more than $25,000 to HOPEKids Arizona; a non-profit support community for families of children with cancer and other life threatening illnesses. A year later, when the company’s leadership learned that HOPEKids had opened a chapter near its headquarters in North Texas; USHA donated another $45,000 plus.
When asked to describe the reasons behind the company’s mission of HOPE, Mr. McQuagge said “Every company has a ‘soul’. That ‘soul’ lies at the very core of who the company and its people really are. Our people have made it their mission to help and serve others whenever and wherever they can. For me, there is no more noble way to run a business or to live your life.”
USHEALTH Group’s Chief Marketing Officer Brian Clark added “The notion of helping and serving others isn’t something we take lightly. We see it as our corporate responsibility and a personal mission.” As if to affirm Mr. Clark’s comments, these selfless acts of kindness by company leaders have clearly sparked a movement that has spread to USHEALTH Advisors Agents in local communities all across America.
One example can be found in Brevard County Florida, where Satellite Division Leader Elizabeth Byrne and Agents in her local USHA sales office decided to embark on a mission of HOPE in their local community of Palm Bay. Their research of local charities and service organizations led them to the Brevard County Homes for Warriors Project; a service project of the Space Coast Paratroopers Association. The USHA “Byrne Team” worked with Homes for Warriors on demolition, repairs, and cleanup and sodding in order to prepare a new home that would be donated mortgage-free to a local Army Specialist and his family.
“We talked a lot about our focus of helping other people every day and how we could accomplish that not just through offering our insurance products to potential clients but also through enriching our local community,” said Ms. Byrne. “Our mission of HOPE and projects like this help us to appreciate that living a life of service far exceeds living a life of success.”
Similar conversations have taken place in other USHA sales offices, including the Richard Starke Satellite Division Office in Scottsdale, Arizona; where they set their sights on supporting the Wounded Warrior Project. “We started talking about HOPE – Helping Other People Everyday,” said Mr. Starke. “The discussion evolved and…we started talking about giving more back. So we set up a fishbowl at the entrance of our meeting room so that Agents can freely donate to the Wounded Warrior Project.” Each week, the Starke Division Office collects hundreds of dollars in donations for the Wounded Warrior Project.
“Living a mission of HOPE is something that we have been dedicated to fulfilling since the launch of USHEALTH Advisors”, said USHA Sr. VP of Marketing, Bill Shelton. “This is who we are and what we do as individuals; and as a company. For us, there is no other way to live.”
About USHealth Advisors, L.L.C.
USHEALTH Advisors is the wholly-owned national health insurance distribution arm of USHEALTH Group, Inc. The company sells individual health coverage and supplementary products underwritten by The Freedom Life Insurance Company of America and National Foundation Life Insurance Company, wholly-owned subsidiaries of USHEALTH Group, Inc. The company is focused on serving America’s self-employed, small business and individual insurance market through its captive Agent sales force.
Corporate Contact:
Bill Shelton
817.878.3823