Farmers Insurance to Celebrate 85th Anniversary by Joining Forces with Feeding America to Conduct National Food Drive as Way to Continue Giving Back To Communities It Serves

LOS ANGELES, March 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- From its modest beginnings 85-years ago in a nondescript, Los Angeles office filled with second-hand furniture and room enough for 4 employees, Farmers Insurance has never lost sight of the importance of making a difference in the communities it serves.

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With that corporate philosophy as a backdrop, Farmers, which today provides auto, home, small business, specialty and life insurance to 10 million U.S. households, will celebrate its anniversary – March 25 through March 29 – by joining forces with leading hunger relief charity organization, Feeding America, in conducting a national food drive.  The company has designated the week as "We Are Farmers Week." 

Founded on March 28, 1928 by civic-minded, Southern California entrepreneurs, John C. "Jack" Tyler and Thomas E. Leavey, Farmers, in addition to the national food drive, will commemorate its 85^th year of doing business with anniversary festivities at company offices across the country. More than eight decades after its first insurance policy was sold, Farmers now has more than 74,000 employees, agents and district managers in the U.S representing its brand. 

"Everyone at Farmers takes great personal pride in this company and all the wonderful things it represents," said Farmers CEO Jeff Dailey. "Our 'One Farmers' culture, our mission, our vision, our values and our guiding principles are all singularly focused on serving the needs of our customers in the communities in which we serve and do business."

Today, Farmers is among the leading and largest personal lines insurance companies in the U.S. The company has a national network of sales agents; and its employees occupy offices in communities such as Wilmington, Delaware, Davie, Florida., Austin, Texas, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Oklahoma City and suburban Kansas City, Portland, Cleveland and Los Angeles.  The company's award-wining corporate training and education center, the University of Farmers, is located in the Southern California city of Agoura Hills with a satellite campus in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

"I strongly believe that Farmers' founding fathers and the employees and agents who have come before us would be proud of how far this company has come," said Dailey. "Our job in future years is to keep building upon the great Farmers culture and tradition so that we can leave Farmers an even better company for the next generation for the benefit of our customers and future customers." 

A focal point of "We Are Farmers Week" will occur in local communities across the country where Farmers agents, district managers and employees will lead the way in conducting the national food drive – both literally by making food donations and virtually via online contributions - in conjunction with Feeding America. 

"As a national company with a proud tradition and track record of volunteerism in local communities, we could not think of a better way to celebrate our 85^th birthday than to partner with Feeding America," said Dailey.

Farmers is strongly encouraging everyone associated with the company, including Farmers customers and the general public, to participate in the national food drive with Feeding America, which estimates that one in six people in the United States go to bed hungry every night.

For a statewide list of food banks, go to http://feedingamerica.org/foodbank-results.aspx. If you would like to donate money to provide meals to families, children and seniors facing hunger, go to Virtual Food Drive for Feeding America.

Farmers Insurance Group of Companies is a leading U.S. insurer group of automobiles, homes and small businesses and also provides a wide range of other insurance and financial services products. Farmers Insurance is proud to serve more than 10 million households with more than 20 million individual policies across all 50 states through the efforts of over 50,000 exclusive and independent agents and nearly 24,000 employees.

The Farmers Exchanges are three reciprocal insurers (Farmers Insurance Exchange, Fire Insurance Exchange and Truck Insurance Exchange), including their subsidiaries and affiliates, owned by their policyholders.  Farmers Group, Inc., along with its subsidiaries, manages the non-claims insurance operations of the Farmers Exchanges.  Farmers Group, Inc. is wholly owned by the Zurich Insurance Group. For more information about Farmers, visit its Web site at www.farmers.com or at www.Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.

SOURCE Farmers Insurance