Wednesday, March 30, 2011
The Greater Washington Foundation of Insurance and Financial Advisors celebrated its 23-year partnership with For Love of Children (FLOC) during their annual luncheon at the Congressional Country Club last week, and in the process heard an inspiring story from a FLOC student who illustrates their shared goal of seeing youth succeed in school and career.
The Foundation, previously known as the D.C. Life Underwriters Association until 2008, has been actively involved in FLOC since the late 1980s. Their staff participated in and helped organize Walkathon events, made in-kind donations as well as monetary ones to FLOC, the Outdoor Education Center, as well as Hope and a Home, a transitional housing program that FLOC helped develop from the 1970s to 1990s,with total donations reaching $500,000.
Keith Eig, GWFIFA President who has served on the board for eight years, said the focus of the foundation is brightening the lives of area youth, and FLOC has been a natural fit. They also partner with four or five other nonprofits.
“There is a big need to help kids,” Eig said. “It’s an investment in the future for all of us.”
The Foundation has made an annual donation of $2,000 to FLOC scholarships for the past four years.
One of the recipients of those scholarships is Unique Bexley, former FLOC student and recent Grinnell College graduate, who attributes many great experiences in her life – attending Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School, internships, fellowships, and her first trip to Europe – to her perseverance here.
Unique spoke to FLOC and Foundation leadership about the value of the tutoring programs and how she was provided continued support throughout her post-secondary education. Having started tutoring at 7 years old, she learned the importance of hard work every Saturday morning as she pushed through the math and reading curricula.
Through this experience, she said she recognized that you have to finish tasks that may initially seem difficult, adding that she was fortunate to have a wonderful tutor who was dedicated to seeing her improve and patiently worked with her for a number of years.
“For Love of Children has become a catalyst for so many things in my life…like my passion for learning, my confidence in my abilities, and valuable relationships I develop with people.”
Unique said the rigorous tutoring program is more than just learning how to solve math problems or deciphering the meaning of a reading passage; most importantly, it involves the process of “cultivating oneself.”
“I can honestly say that FLOC is part of the reason why I have been so fortunate in my life,” she said.
Eig praised Unique’s speech, saying “She performed beautifully. It was so powerful to hear from someone we helped.”
