In October in Ilion, New York—where America’s oldest arms manufacturer first started making guns in 1816—Remington terminated nearly 600 employees, sending shockwaves and heartbreak throughout the community.

“There’s a saying that Ilion is Remington and Remington is Ilion, but in my opinion, it should be the Mohawk Valley is Remington and Remington is the Mohawk Valley,” said Patrick Brien, Vice President of Sales NY & NJ of InsureOne of America. “These workers, they come from all over the valley and decided to stake their trust in old Remington and old Remington failed these workers.”

The immediate impact of the layoffs went beyond what is often typical in modern-day, large-scale terminations. 

“They are being told no health insurance, no benefits, nothing,” Brien said. “Imagine being an employee, and five days before Halloween, 31 days before Thanksgiving, and 60 days prior to Christmas—you are told not only that your job no longer exists, but that you will have no benefits effective that same day. No money for a Halloween costume for your kids, no means to put a Thanksgiving dinner on the table and no resources to even begin to think about Christmas for your family. That is what some of these former Remington workers are faced with right now.”

Brien’s deep concerns permeate not only the entire Ilion community—a village of 8,000 people that is a three-hour drive from both Buffalo and New York City—but his local team at InsureOne.

After initially coordinating a $500 donation from InsureOne’s parent company, Confie, Brien spoke with Jacquie Sweeney, the local representative of the United Mine Workers Association (UMWA) that represents Remington employees in Ilion for permission to organize donations for the laid-off workers. 

Brien posted on Facebook about the effort and was overwhelmed when he received more than $14,000 in community donations. Then the local United Methodist District Church Association decided to join the fray, committing $6,000. And funds are still trickling in.

“Many of us have had family members or good friends who have worked at the plant over the years,” added Brien, whose father worked at the Ilion plant for 33 years. and brother and sister were employed by Remington between college semesters. “It’s because of them that food was put on the table for families, children were able to go on to college and earn degrees, small businesses were guaranteed a steady flow of customers. That is now gone and they need our help.”

The old saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” And as the pandemic has proceeded, Bob Meagher of Confie’s InsureOne team has seen the tough get going within his team of some 40 professionals in Oaklawn, Illinois, just outside Chicago.

“We have done so much in the office with contributions from everyone to come together to make sure this is as manageable as possible,” he said. “We have distanced ourselves, partitioned the offices, closed off the customer facing area. We then built windows to help conduct business with customers so that we can continue working efficiently.”

When division president Jeff Wingate reached out to Meagher inquiring about standout performers during the pandemic, it was no easy task to narrow the group down.

“Our entire office has done an incredible job getting through this issue, staying safe and happy,” he said. “It was really hard to identify just one or two people specifically because so many have come together. But we’ve had some real standouts.”

Cindy Marroquin, who started at InsureOne just over one year ago, has been one of those standouts, working with various customers in different capacities to ensure they could have the best service possible.

“She never complained about the situation, and instead thought about how they can do more for the customers,” Meagher noted. “She came up with the idea of a customer appreciation monthly drawing and we have done this now for three months, where each customer that comes in is entered to a drawing that we select a winner each month, with each visit counting as one entrance. They then win a $25 gift card, which isn’t the largest amount, but people are very excited and proud to win.”

Nicole Mansour is a commercial lines/retail manager who has been with InsureOne for 18 years. Meagher said she has been instrumental in keeping things “moving forward” as the pandemic has challenged individual families and businesses.

“She worked with members of her team and human resources to help create special accommodations for an employee who needed to work from home,” he said. “She’s also done a great job in keeping in close contact with customers to keep them informed of the status of key issues.”

As the pandemic has stretched and created further challenges for Meagher and his team, time and time again they have pulled through — taking up a collection for a local hospital, holding a customer appreciation cookout, and simply making sure that the community and customers have what they need, when they need it.

Thanks to Bob, Cindy, Nicole and the rest of the team in Oaklawn for being a shining example of what makes an InsureOne Community Hero.