Boone, North Carolina, where Jackson Sumner & Associates (JSA) is headquartered, is a small – but rapidly growing – town of 19,000 residents located in the northwest corner of the state in Watauga County. It is home to Appalachian State University and other industries, but the county also has a lot of rural pockets with large economic disparity. This is one of the main reasons why JSA is driven to charitable fundraising year-round.
“Helping others has always been our philosophy at JSA; whether it’s helping our customers or helping those less fortunate in our community,” said JSA founder and CEO Wayne Sumner. “We take our daily walk of gratitude and are so blessed, it’s only natural that we do something for those less fortunate than we are. We don’t say, ‘give ‘til it hurts.’ We say, ‘give ‘til it feels good.’”
Transportation Manager Tommy Hefner, Transportation Underwriter Stephen Ingram, Assistant Transportation Underwriter Baker Loy, Transportation Renewal Underwriter PJ Hennessey and P&C Underwriter Haley Everett clean up as part of the NCDOT Adopt-A-Highway program in August of 2018.
In 2018, JSA collected over $16,500 for the annual charity fund, collected over 300lbs of food, donated countless school and hurricane relief supplies for various organizations, and helped out in the community via service hours. JSA has been involved in charitable giving for over 20 years, raising over $100,000 in the last ten years alone. The 2018 amount is the highest amount ever raised by the JSA Annual Charitable Giving Campaign.
Transportation Underwriter Cindy Kale and Renewal Underwriter PJ Hennessey in the 2018 JSA Supermarket Sweeps which collected over 300 lbs of food for a local food pantry in November 2018.
“Those less fortunate include our four-legged friends,” stated Sumner. “We give a portion of our charitable funds to Watauga Humane Society every year. We are all tremendous animal lovers at JSA, and it’s important for us to act as stewards to our furry friends that give our lives so much joy.”
In addition to sharing with the local Humane Society, the charities chosen for the remaining funds are decided on by the employees themselves through a submission process each year. In 2001, JSA “adopted” Danny Peritore, a FDNY firefighter that was with the 2nd truck on the scene at the twin towers on 9/11 as their charity. For 2018, the chosen charities are the Boone Hunger & Health Coalition Food Backpack Program, Richmond Conexiones, Matthews Help Center, Brothers Helping Brothers /Carney Strong, and Forsyth Davidson Sunnyside Ministry.
“One thing we’ve learned is that our employees are competitive,…very competitive,” laughs Chief Operating Officer, Danielle Wade. “For us, we found that giving back creates a bond among teammates,…and a competition to claim bragging rites. Sometimes it involves nothing more than a crazy trophy or social media shout-out, but the competition is real and the charities become the ultimate winners.”
The JSA charitable giving campaign is year-round with several competitions, events, and contests sprinkled throughout the year. They become social events for employees as well as fundraisers. A year-round JSA charity committee organizes the events and is always vetting ideas.
Administrative Assistant and Charity Committee Chair Liz Kuentzel (on left) with a volunteer at the Hospitality House of Boone donating 300lbs of food collected by JSA before Thanksgiving 2018.
“Putting the “FUN” into fundraising is the goal of the company,” stated JSA Administrative Assistant and Fundraising Committee Chair Liz Kuentzel. “In any given year, there will be an annual cornhole tournament, Thanksgiving bake sale, a chili contest for the Superbowl, an ugly Christmas sweater competition, school supply collection, food drives, and auctions of tickets or vacation days.”
JSA also believes in service via involvement with the Appalachian State Brantley Risk & Insurance Center and their Gamma Iota Sigma Chapter, as well as the adopt-a-highway program nearby. JSA provides each employee 5 hours of paid time off each year of charitable service to any organization with which they wish to volunteer.
Tania Call, Haley Everett, and Allison Gabriel compete in the 2018 Annual Cornhole Tournament at JSA in July 2018.
“Providing our employees participation options allows each of them a chance to give in the way they feel most generous,” stated Kuentzel. “Some are amazing bakers and can create a cake that will earn $150 at the bake sale, others are grocery shopping masters at our Supermarket Sweeps food drive contest, and others get amazingly creative at the ugly holiday sweater contest. With over 15 charity events planned year-round, we want to offer something for everyone to participate in and enjoy because giving back is truly a JSA group effort.”
