Insurance Employees Contribute to Second Annual 80,000 Tree Planting Mission

PR Newswire

BASTROP, Texas, Jan. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Fifty Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY) employees are supporting the company's efforts to plant 80,000 trees for the second year in a row through a two-day project near Austin, TX. Today employees finished planting 6,000 trees in Bastrop State Park as part of the PHLY 80K Trees initiative. The planting started yesterday with employees planting trees on private land in the Bastrop, TX community.

PHLY's (pronounced phil-EE) 80K tree planting mission began in 2015 in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation and was renewed in 2016. The goal to fund the planting of 80,000 trees was reached both years with the help of PHLY's independent agents, brokers, and policyholders who enrolled into receiving paperless statements. The company used the cost savings from the new enrollees to fund the plantings. PHLY employees returned to Bastrop, TX this year, where the Arbor Day Foundation recommended planting an additional 40,000 trees. A 2011 wildfire in the Bastrop State Park destroyed close to 1,700 homes, killed two people, and inflicted an estimated $325 million of insured property damage. The Arbor Day Foundation will lead projects to plant an additional 20,000 trees in both Malheur National Forest, Oregon and Lake Superior Forest, Michigan, completing PHLY's 80,000 tree goal for 2016.

"We've successfully reached our goal in both years to plant a total of 160,000 trees, but there is still much to do in order to save forests devastated by natural disasters," shared Bob O'Leary, president and chief executive officer of Philadelphia Insurance Companies. "This year, we wanted to continue supporting the Bastrop area's critical need for replanting by returning and allow our employees to see the progress of our efforts."

There are over one million acres in desperate need of replanting due to natural disasters according to the U.S. Forest Service. PHLY's efforts to support the planting of 80,000 trees will help provide greater security to communities, including PHLY's policyholders.

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For more information about the initiative, please visit www.PHLY.com/GoPaperless.

About Philadelphia Insurance

Philadelphia Insurance Companies designs, markets, and underwrites commercial property/casualty and professional liability insurance products incorporating value added coverages and services for select industries. In operation since 1962, the Company, whose commercial lines insurance subsidiaries are rated "A++" (Superior) by A.M. Best Company and "A+" for counterparty credit and financial strength by Standard & Poor's, is nationally recognized as a member of Ward's Top 50, National Underwriter's Top 100, and one of the Top 150 Workplaces in America. The organization has more than 50 offices strategically located across the United States to provide superior service. For more information, please visit www.PHLY.com.

About Arbor Day Foundation

Arbor Day Foundation is a million member nonprofit conservation and education organization with the mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. More information is available at arborday.org.