ST. GEORGE — A group of six local State Farm agents recently joined together to donate $3,500 to Tan’s Treats, a nonprofit organization that provides meals to children in need on the weekends when there are no school programs where the children can eat.
Sherry McGhee, Mike Barker, Mike Ford, Joe Andrus, John Shiels and Mark Drawe presented Diane Holt from Tan’s Treats with the check on Wednesday afternoon, and State Farm will match the donation through their Good Neighbor Community Fund.
“We wanted to make a contribution to a local charity that we felt would have a positive impact here in the St. George area,” McGhee said. “All of the agents joined together and came up with various organizations, and we voted on which one we’d like to support. Having heard the story of Tan’s Treats and how it came to be, we decided they were the ones.”
All of the six of the agents who donated were on hand to present the check to Tan’s Treats. All of the agents are independent contractors who own their own agencies and employ their own people while selling State Farm products.
McGhee said that she finds it important to be involved with different community funds.
“As a State Farm agent, I find it really important for me to give back in the community I live in to help and benefit our own family of people,” McGhee said.
Holt told St. George News that Tan’s Treats was expecting to see a decline in donations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic as has been seen in other nonprofits both in Washington County and across the nation, but they have still been receiving donations, which is a benefit since they have also seen an increase in the need for food during the pandemic.
The organization had a surplus of packed bags before the pandemic hit, which lasted them through the school year, and since then, they have been delivering pre-packed boxes of food that are meant to last longer periods of time. The food is delivered to 13 different schools in Washington County and then passed on to the parents of the children.
Holt said donations like the one from the independent agents and State Farm as a whole are “what keeps us going.”
“It’s huge,” she said. “The food drives, the food donations, the business donations and the individuals who contribute monthly, along with the money and donations like State Farm, that’s the only way we can do it.”
You can learn more about Tan’s Treats on their website.
Ed. note: An earlier version of this story misidentified the profession of the State Farm agents.
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