Kindness Matters

As the old saying goes, “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” MMA’s Northwest Region takes that saying to heart every November when its Random Acts of Kindness initiative kicks into high gear, spreading goodwill during the month of gratitude. 

“Eight years ago, we came up with the idea to empower all of our colleagues to perform random acts of kindness throughout our communities,” explains Jeremy Vannatta, managing director of marketing and communications for MMA’s Northwest Region.

“We made a concerted effort to promote the idea that doing good things doesn’t have to be huge. And while we do charitable things in our communities throughout the year, we wanted to set up a designated time when we encourage people to do this. We chose November because it goes well with Thanksgiving and the overall spirit of gratitude,” he continues.

With 780 colleagues across four states—Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon—this spirit of giving is widespread. It started small with great potential, and over the past seven years, the Random Acts of Kindness program has gained momentum and become one of the favorite months for regional colleagues. In the beginning, MMA created a list of ideas to inspire thought about the types of acts people could do. 

“We didn’t want it to be random acts of goodness for nonprofits because it can be really easy to make a donation. We already do a ton of that—in fact, we give over $750,000 in donations and sponsorships every year,” Vannatta says. “This program was on top of everything else. In serving our clients, our communities, and each other, this is a cool way to have some of these opportunities to see the impact of giving back. We set a budget, but not everything we do costs money. It can be as simple as picking up a piece of trash off the ground.” 

The stories that have come out of the Random Acts of Kindness initiative are countless. Whether it’s buying donuts and coffee for the local fire station so the firefighters have a treat or taking an unhoused person shopping for new clothes, there’s no end to the opportunities to put a smile on the face of an unsuspecting stranger.

Vannatta recalls one of his favorite stories:

“We thought the Random Acts of Kindness idea was so cool that we brought it to our two-day new colleague onboarding sessions. We would give people instructions and then send them out to the community. During one of the sessions, a group of colleagues saw a family with a child at a local carousel. The MMA team asked the family if they could buy a couple rounds on the carousel, and when our team was talking to them, they found out the child’s mom had recently passed away from breast cancer. In that moment, our team just knew they were supposed to be there. They went to the local children’s museum and bought an annual pass for the whole family and returned to the carousel to give it to them.” 

“Later, when the team was relaying the story to the group at the onboarding session, someone in the group started crying. It turned out, the woman who had passed away was this colleague’s best friend, and her husband had called to tell her how generous her company was. It came full circle, and this loop could not have demonstrated better how we, as an organization, are connecting to communities.” 

Vannatta adds, “There are a lot of these stories, and the cool part is that now Random Acts of Kindness is something our colleagues really look forward to. They’re so proud to be part of an organization that has giving back to the community at the core of who we are.”

“When we started this program, we knew that some of the smallest gestures can have some of the biggest impacts,” Vannatta says. “It’s the same in insurance. Some of the smallest things, from a policy standpoint, can make the biggest difference. It’s important that people know they can partner with an insurance agency that cares about the community as much as we do. We’ve never been held back from doing things like this, and it shows.”