Dateline: 10/12/2001
Donates $25,000 to Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston, Texas
SCHAUMBURG, IL and TAMPA, FL, December 10, 2001 -- Zurich North America, a leading provider of insurance, financial and risk management solutions, is bringing glad tidings to hundreds of children at Shriners Hospitals for Children around the country this holiday season.
Members of Zurich Services Corp. and representatives from other Zurich North America business units hosted holiday parties at Shriners Hospitals in Chicago, IL; Galveston, TX; Greenville, NC; Philadelphia, PA; and Sacramento, CA. Zurich employees disguised as Santa and his elves provided toys, treats and Christmas stockings for the children. In addition, the Zurich North America Foundation presented a check for $25,000 to the Galveston Shriners Hospital. The funds will be used to purchase examination equipment and fulfill other patient needs.
"We welcome Zurich North America once again for what has become one of our most anticipated holiday activities. The generosity and caring of Zurich’s employees is a real spirit booster for the children in our hospitals, and the company’s financial support helps ensure that we can continue providing the best medical treatment possible," said John D. VerMaas, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Shriners Hospitals for Children.
"This is our third year as holiday party host at the Shriners Hospitals, and we’re happy to be back. We can’t think of a better way to bring joy to the season than to brighten up a child’s holiday," said Roger Smith, Construction Risk Engineering Manager. "As always, the mission of the Zurich North America Foundation is to provide funding for educational institutions and social service organizations that specialize in children’s needs. Shriners Hospitals has our support again this year, and we look forward to continuing that support in the future."
Zurich North America (www.zurichna.com) is a leading commercial property-casualty, health and accident insurance provider serving the multinational, middle market and small business sectors in the United States and Canada. Headquartered in Schaumburg, Ill., Zurich North America has 11,650 employees and wrote $8.0 billion in premiums in 2000. Zurich North America includes the Zurich U.S. business units (Corporate Customer, Middle Markets, Small Business, Strategic Partnerships, Construction, Specialties, Zurich Global Energy, Warranty, Surety & Financial Enterprises and Empire Fire and Marine), as well as Universal Underwriters Group and Zurich North America Canada. The Zurich U.S. pool of companies is rated A+ (superior) by A.M. Best and AA (very strong) by Standard & Poor’s. Zurich North America is a member of the Zurich Financial Services Group.
The Zurich Financial Services Group (www.zurich.com) is a global leader of integrated financial services, providing its customers solutions in the areas of financial protection (non life insurance and structured solutions) and asset gathering (life insurance and asset management). The Group focuses its activities on key markets, i.e. North America, UK, Switzerland, Europe, and selected other markets where it has or can reach a competitive position. Founded in 1872, Zurich is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. It has offices in more than 60 countries employing 70,000 people. In 2000, the Group achieved gross premiums of USD 50 billion. This amount includes insurance deposits as well as premiums from the Farmers P&C Group. The net income was USD 2.33 billion. On December 31, 2000, the Group had USD 440 billion of assets under management, of which USD 259 billion represent funds managed for third-party institutional and retail customers.
# # #
Media Contacts:
Sonja Monsen
Shriners Hospitals
(813) 281-8167
smonsen@worldfax.com
Brian J. Murphy
Zurich North America
(847) 413-5142
brian.2.murphy@zurichna.com
Betty Schwartz
Miller DeMartine Group
(201) 567-7783
bschwartz@mdgpr.com