 Brian Edgren President EHL Insurance |
 |
||
Welcome to edition #9 of our client newsletter. Your reaction to our referral reward program has been most gratifying. Thank you for your business, friendship and referrals! The bottom of this page details the three levels of reward that friends and clients can earn by referring a friend to our practice. As with everyone who has won a gas card thus far in 2010, people referring friends to us in December will also be entered into our 2010 drawing for $500. What a great way to end the year! Brian Edgren, President EHL Insurance |
|||
 Tom and Beth Johnston |
 By Jeff Ogard
|
||
We were able to interview Tom because he had an unexpected opening in his schedule. The 67-year old entrepreneur’s “surfing partner” had a conflict that precluded their taking advantage of the cold, stormy Straits of Juan de Fuca. It’s not surprising that Tom is a surfer dude. He has no problem keeping up with dozens of junior high kids at once. He volunteers his time wake boarding, snow skiing, and building banana splits in 20’ sections of sanitized rain gutters in conjunction with the Young Life club he helped start over 30 years ago. His attitude is always positive and his outlook optimistic. He’s started and operated several businesses over the past 40+ years, and has no thoughts about retiring. Quoting Zig Ziegler, Tom says now is a time to “re-fire, not re-tire.” Tom helped start the first assisted living complex for Alzheimer’s patients in the northwest. Over the past 20 years, 35 such facilities have been developed, and today, Northwest Care still owns and operates eight of them. Over the next several years, additional properties will be developed up and down the west coast. Tom and his two brothers grew up in rural Port Orchard. Their dad was afraid the boys would become “hicks”, so the family moved to Bremerton when Tom was eleven. Even though his fifth grade teacher wanted to advance him, Tom’s mom convinced the school to hold him back. She felt he needed to take learning opportunities seriously. “Flunking” fifth grade was a major blow to this young man, who already had a speech impediment that colored his initial self image. By 7th grade, Tom decided his stuttering would not derail him. He began to proactively volunteer to read aloud in class. While initially very scared, he learned that fear could be overcome by tackling the issue head on. Surprisingly, never once did any of his peers make fun of his speech. Perhaps it was because Tom learned at an early age, that it’s important to befriend everyone. (He routinely sought out kids sitting alone in the lunch room, and later at class reunions, learned how that impacted these people.) By 8th grade, Tom was president of the school’s boy’s club, and class president in his freshmen and sophomore years of high school. He had a paper route from age 8 – 16, and then began working in grocery stores, a job he held through college. Tom was a quarterback of his high school football team, and can still throw a 50+ yard spiral. He credits weight lifting, cardio exercise, and a healthful diet as secondary keys to great health, but the advice of Philippians 4:6 is primary for all facets of his life. Tom shocked his high school teachers by being one of four national merit scholarship winners from his class. While receiving good grades in classes he enjoyed, his overall GPA was still not great. However, he now had confidence to pursue higher education in fine arts. After earning his associate’s degree from Olympic College, he pursued a double major at the University of Washington that included Architecture as well. Tom had a dream that he and his wife Beth, would be supported by businesses he would originate. He spent three years working for several smaller architectural firms. This gave him multiple learning opportunities he never would have had if he had been pigeon holed in a larger company. Then Tom and Beth moved to Bainbridge Island. The combination of his artistic eye and design capabilities brought early success in remodeling upscale homes, and later in designing and building spec homes within his construction company. Unfortunately, he over built when sales were not robust, and the young couple lost everything. This humbling experience was 35 years ago, and it established a baseline from which to measure all future circumstances. Tom has yet to experience anything this difficult since, so he refuses to be bogged down with fear from life’s ups and downs. Within 3 ½ years, all the houses were sold, debts were repaid, and he received 100% financing to build on waterfront island acreage where the couple lives to this day. While success in business has been evident, that is not what defines Tom. In fact, he sees financial capabilities as a means, not an end. Tom’s life priorities are 1) honoring God, 2) devoting time to his family, 3) ministries, and then 4) work. As a result, Tom and Beth have lived extremely purposeful lives. They see themselves as producers, not consumers, believing that a focus on accumulation for oneself never leads to contentment.  Tom helped found “construction for change”. Construction management majors from the UW volunteer to travel overseas to build projects for those wanting to help others in foreign countries. They train nationals in construction practices, and leave the equipment behind. The combination of new found experience and construction equipment creates jobs that help develop the local infrastructure in creative ways. The Johnstons helped sponsor construction of a 16 room school for Zambian orphans and have started a youth corp work to train indigenous youth to become productive members of society. They have taken 34 and 24 people with them on two trips to Ethiopia, where their ministry helps sponsor college educations. They have also been involved in reconstructing housing devastated by natural disasters in Ethiopia. A second benefit of these trips is to give Young Life students a much broader view of life than what they see in our affluent society. EHL is proud to serve as risk advisors for Tom and Beth. We hope their story inspires you as you consider the legacy your lives will leave behind. |
|||
 Loyal Edgren |
 By Jeff Ogard |
||
| Most of our clients know that the letters “EHL” represents the initials of our founding partners, Brian Edgren, Rich Hecker and Todd Lemmon. However, the roots of EHL go back several decades. How did this all come to be? In 2001, EHL was formed by the merging of Edgren Insurance, (owned by Brian) and Longnecker-JRO (owned by Rich and Todd). After EHL was formed, we acquired Shold Insurance in Sequim; Ralston & Ralston in Port Angeles; and Cascade Insurance Brokers in Silverdale. What started as two small agencies with a combined staff of 11; has grown over the past decade to a thriving risk advisory practice with 28 employees and numerous strategic partners who together deliver a truly distinguished business model. Each of the five formerly separate organizations has a unique history. The purpose of this article is to share one of those stories. On October 18, 2010, several hundred people met at First Lutheran Church in Poulsbo to pay respect to Loyal Edgren, a larger than life man who lived life well. Loyal grew up in Poulsbo, having graduated from North Kitsap High School and Western Washington State College, with a degree in education. Loyal taught school in the North Kitsap school district for eight years prior to joining his wife Pat in the establishment of Edgren Insurance. Their 35 year career together was very special. Loyal earned the respect of the companies he represented by matching them with clients who like him, were of very high caliber and integrity. It has been a real joy to hear the dozens of stories that have surfaced from people whom Pat and Loyal served going back to the 60s. Loyal’s reputation with his companies and clients enabled him to solve problems that few agents could. Even today, we have many clients who remember Loyal not only as their insurance man. They also recall him as their favorite teacher. There’s something about the combination of being 6’5” with a stern voice and long pointing fingers; yet twinkling eyes full of compassion and love for whoever was seated across his desk. Loyal and Pat’s son Brian joined the business in 1984. Following a tour of duty as both a company claims adjuster and underwriter, Brian brought a unique skill set to a small town insurance agency that he has built on ever since. Loyal received Safeco’s “Award of Excellence” for nearly two decades prior to his retirement in 1998, and Brian has carried on the family tradition of excellence to this day.  An avid fisherman and Norwegian, Loyal convinced my then 10 – year old son, that Lutefisk was actually good for him. (He’s annually enjoyed several platefuls of this ‘cod jello’ with melted butter and cream sauce annually for the past decade.) In addition to his membership in the Lutheran Church, Loyal was active in the Poulsbo Noon Lion’s Club, Poulsbo Volunteer Fire Dept & Ambulance, American Legion, Sons of Norway, and Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce. He loved spending his free time in the outdoors fishing, skiing, golfing, camping and hunting with his family. Our EHL family is proud to join our community in saying thank you to the Edgrens for not just how they have served us, but for who they are. For those of us privileged to work with Loyal, it was an experience we will never forget. |
|||
|
 By Jeff Ogard |
||
I was recently treated to lunch by an EHL client at an incredible restaurant. “Fare Start” is located at 7th and Virginia in Downtown Seattle. Much more than an eatery, FareStart is a non-profit, social entrepreneurial organization that operates a unique job placement and training program benefiting homeless and disadvantaged men, women, and youth. FareStart was started as a business that delivered nutritious meals to homeless shelters, but its founder, David Lee, realized that if they trained their clients to help prepare the food, it would give them the job skills they would need to find employment and stable housing. FareStart reports that 80% of graduates find jobs within 90 days of graduation. The FareStart Restaurant serves lunch Monday - Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Every Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m is the famous Guest Chef Night, featuring a three-course dinner, prepared by students under the supervision of a "guest chef" - a noted Seattle chef from another restaurant that volunteers his or her services to support the cause. All revenue and gratuities from the restaurant directly support the job training and placement programs. The sixteen week hands-on training program includes a combination of culinary and life skills classes, preparing graduates for jobs and self-sufficiency.  The FareStart Café in the Rainier Valley serves as an on-the-job training site for youth enrolled in the Barista Training and Education Program, a collaborative effort between YouthCare and FareStart. All net profit generated by the café goes directly toward student training programs, as do all net profits from all FareStart businesses. FareStart Café opened in 2004 inside the 2100 Building, at 2100 24th Ave. South (Rainier Valley). In addition to the food preparation training, FareStart also provides job placement assistance, help finding housing if the student is not already staying at a homeless shelter, and continues working with the students after they start their new job to help them keep it. FareStart also provides catering services, and the restaurant is available for dinners, business meetings, and celebrations.The FareStart Board and community recently began a movement to create a national network to enable best practice sharing among like social entrepreneurial, food-based life skills training nationwide. As part of this effort, the organization previously known as Kitchens with Missions was integrated into FareStart. EHL Insurance is proud to serve many clients who are involved in a variety of efforts to give to our communities in ways that help people who are unable to navigate life independently. It is our hope that the story of Fare Start in Seattle will stimulate creative thinking within the other communities in which we operate. |
|||
 |
 |
||
 Thank you for recommending EHL to your friends and family! For each person or family you refer to us, we will send you $10 in gasoline gift cards, and enter you in our bimonthly drawing for $100 and our annual drawing for $500. We are pleased to announce this month’s winner. Linda Watermayer’s name was drawn from all clients and other friends who referred someone to us. And, FareStart is also receiving a $50 contribution from EHL on behalf of our clients for the great work they are doing. |
|||
