Building Hope Together

At Marsh McLennan Agency (MMA), “partnership” is a term not taken lightly. Colleagues often spend years—or even decades—building relationships that impact communities across the country. And that doesn’t just apply to clients. Through its MMA Cares program, colleagues can spend a paid day volunteering for a cause close to their hearts. The company goes a step further, organizing group volunteer opportunities so colleagues can give back collectively. It’s a day where colleagues from across the region work together to make a difference for people in need.

In Illinois, MMA has teamed up with Special Spaces, a nonprofit organization that designs dream bedrooms for children with cancer, as well as their siblings. MMA’s 10-year partnership with Special Spaces combines financial support and hands-on volunteerism. Special Spaces works extensively with each family to plan the perfect bedroom for the sponsored child and each of their siblings. Then it’s time to call in the troops—MMA colleagues show up on makeover day to paint, build, clean, and do whatever else is needed to bring the designs to life. To date, MMA colleagues have contributed 2,080 volunteer hours of love, sweat, and making dreams come true for deserving kids.

“It’s more than a monetary situation for us; we’re giving our employees a day to serve and to volunteer,” says Amiri Curry, MMA Senior Vice President, Client Services. “We pride ourselves as an organization that gives back. One of the most coveted activities in our regional MMA Cares program is participating in the bedroom makeovers for Special Spaces. We very rarely have to solicit participation because anyone who’s ever done it just wants to do it again.” 

Just say yes

For kids facing a cancer diagnosis, a bedroom can become more than just a room. It can be a sanctuary of sorts filled with hope, joy, and imagination—essentially, a place to just be a kid.

Special Spaces began with a wish, explains Kelly Knox, Special Spaces’ Illinois State Director. One family, the Swain family, got word of a 3-year-old boy with cancer who wished for a trip to Disneyland and a dream bedroom makeover and rose to the challenge. They turned that wish into a mission to help other kids in the same way and founded Special Spaces in 2004. Chris Swain is still at the helm today. Special Spaces now has chapters in nine states and has created more than 2,000 bedrooms, 500 in Illinois alone. 

“From one woman saying, ‘I can do that,” Special Spaces was born,” says Knox. “It continues to grow because cancer continues to impact families, and we were determined to not say ‘yes’ to one child and ‘no’ to another.” 

Those yes's have been made possible in part because of a partnership with MMA.

“We’ve grown because their ‘yes’ has grown with us,” says Knox. “They have continued to find ways to partner with us, whether it’s by saying ‘yes’ to a couple of children and bringing in more of their teams or becoming a part of our events—and when I say they’re a part of our events and they’re part of our dream bedroom makeover, they’re not just writing a check.” 

To date, MMA and Special Spaces have transformed 68 bedrooms for children with cancer in Illinois and don’t plan on slowing down any time soon.  

Organized chaos

Just planning for the makeover process takes roughly 200 hours, and Special Spaces puts the kids in charge, says Knox. Volunteer designers treat the children like any other VIP clients, interviewing them to identify their interests. Princesses, rocket ships, cartoon shows—everything is on the table.

“It’s probably the best interview you can have with a client because the children’s answers are just so pure and beautiful. And we create exactly what they want. If they say to us, ‘I want a rocket ship room,’ we create a rocket ship room. If they want a Dora the Explorer room, we create a Dora room. If they want a princess room, we create that. And so we spend those 200 volunteer hours before we walk in the door making sure that everything is exactly right,” says Knox.

Then comes the “whirlwind.” On makeover day, all the supplies are delivered, and the team spends the entire day (and then some) measuring, painting, building bookshelves, moving furniture, installing electronics, hauling out trash, and more.

“We do the entire makeover in just one day. If you’ve watched Extreme Home Makeover, that is no joke,” says Knox.

“I often say, ‘Put your Type A personality in your back pocket because you may need her.’ You don’t need skills. You don’t need to know how to paint. We will teach you how to do all of that—if you don’t know how to put an IKEA dresser together, then you are way richer than I am,” she says with a laugh. “It becomes a day that is truly about building relationships, not just building rooms. MMA volunteers are bringing their can-do attitude, their time, and their talent to make it happen. And that’s what sets them apart.”

At the end of the day, colleagues and volunteers get to see the fruit of their labor: the look on the family’s faces at the big reveal.

“We are very big on culture, and even if we can’t empathize with what a family is going through at this time in their lives, we can certainly sympathize,” says Curry. “To be able to highlight that and to share that story and to partner with such a great organization that does such meaningful work just aligns with who we want to be, how we want to show up, and how we want to give back to our respective communities.” 

And it turns out, the skills that make MMA colleagues good at their day jobs also translate into this space. Makeovers require the same organization, planning, strong leadership, and alignment that insurance work demands. Plus, their expertise in understanding client needs helps get each child’s room just right.

“It’s not just us showing up. We feel connected to the vision, much in the same way as when we’re working with a client to understand what their needs are and use our resources to offer them the best possible outcome. We come in knowing if a child is a fan of pink and princesses and unicorns or if it’s a young man who loves Roblox or something to that effect,” says Curry.

Knox adds that for both organizations, it’s so much more than a makeover.

“Our values are similar,” she says. “Isn’t insurance and MMA really about making people feel safe?”