Local Growth through Collective Help
At Weller/O'Brien Insurance Services, giving back to the community is important to us. Agency principal Bill Weller finds a natural avenue for this in his involvement with Pass the Word Ministry, a non-profit organization that helps feed and care for homeless individuals.
Pass the Word is an organization that is also a community event. Every Saturday morning, volunteers gather at Dennis the Menace Park to distribute food, clothes, hygiene products, and a wide variety of other goods to homeless individuals. The event is about more than distribution however, it is about providing services.
Bill Weller is one among many volunteers at the weekly gathering who helps in the way he believes fits best. Bill fixes bicycles for homeless visitors and helps others keep their bicycles in working order. “I just went over and did it,” Bill said when he first fixed a bike at Pass the Word. Since then, Bill has become chief of bicycle maintenance at the event and often gives away fully functional bicycles to individuals who need a bicycle.
The event attracts all kinds of volunteers who provide a wide variety of services, including hairstyling and medical attention. It has even inspired a local high school student to give away stocking caps that she and a group of her fellow students knitted. For this student and all of the people who volunteer each week, Pass the Word reinforces that homeless individuals are ‘just like the rest of us, only they’ve gone through things that we (the volunteers) may not understand.’
Bill Weller counts his role in Pass the Word as mutually beneficial to him and other people whose bikes he fixes. Bill loves bicycles and working on bicycles and when he fixes them, he provides people with valuable tools. This dynamic is a reflection of Bill’s approach to serving his community – he does what he loves and helps other people by doing it.
Bill’s involvement in Pass the Word is also a reflection of Weller/O'Brien’s commitment to the social and economic wellbeing of the community. Our dedication to people’s financial security and ongoing satisfaction is expressed in very service we provide. Bill extends these services in new ways by volunteering each week. We are proud of this and we plan to find new ways to contribute to our community beyond providing insurance services.
