West Bend Provides a Silver Lining.

Spirit of the Silver Lining® Award

West Bend recently presented the Spirit of the Silver Lining® Award to 15 of our agency partners and 16 worthy nonprofit organizations they support. The Spirit of the Silver Lining Award embodies the dedication of nonprofit organizations and the generosity of the independent agents who share their time, talent, and resources to help them deliver a silver lining to those in need. Each nonprofit organization also received a grant from West Bend's Independent Agents’ Fund. 

Since we established the Independent Agents’ Fund in 2006, West Bend has awarded grants to nonprofit organizations representing a broad field of interests, including, but not limited to: arts and culture; education; the environment; family, youth, and elderly; health and human services; medical research; and community development.

Read more about this year’s recipients.

Tips for safe snow removal

This time of year, Mother Nature brings snow to many parts of the country. While children often eagerly look forward to snow because of the possibility of a day off from school or the opportunity to get out and enjoy winter activities like sledding and building snow forts and snowmen, it means something entirely different to many adults. For adults, it means dangerous driving conditions and clearing snow from sidewalks and driveways. Whether you use a shovel or a snow blower, there are risks associated with clearing snow, such as hypothermia, slippery pavement, back problems, heart issues, and operation of mechanical equipment. Please keep these tips from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in mind when you’re removing snow.

In addition, it’s important to remember the sometimes-forgotten insurance impacts of snow removal. Click here to learn more.

It’s leap year!

Did you know this month has an extra day? Yes, there are 29 days instead of the usual 28. That’s because 2020 is a leap year. So, why do we have leap years?

Leap years are a way of keeping our modern-day calendar in alignment with the earth's revolutions around the sun.

While our Gregorian calendar has 365 days, it takes the earth approximately 365 days, 5 hours, and 48 minutes to circle once around the sun. Consequently, we need to add an extra day to the calendar every four years (in most cases) to absorb the additional time it takes the earth to orbit the sun and keep our calendar on track. If we didn’t, our calendar would lose almost six hours every year. Click here for more on this and 12 other interesting leap year facts.

Then, enjoy the extra day this month. We won’t see another February 29 until 2024.