LOCAL INFORMATION & RESOURCES
Interested in knowing what’s new with us here at Hamel Mutual Insurance Company? Other than supplying the best insurance products to companies and individuals and guaranteeing trustworthy and prompt service, we also like to take care of our community.
Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) is a national program with activities in every state & territory across the country. The purpose of AITC is to inform students and teachers about how agriculture is a part of their daily lives. Students will better understand the role of agriculture by incorporating information about the food and fiber systems into daily classroom activities. Take the opportunity to help youth understand the importance of agriculture in their everyday lives. Few of us realize how food & fiber are produced.
Madison County C.A.R.E.E. has been providing agricultural and environmental education to over 25,000 students since 1996. C.A.R.E.E. is supported by several major organizations and agribusinesses. These supporters know the importance of agriculture and environmental education and want to see C.A.R.E.E. continue to grow. C.A.R.E.E. provides unique programs which assist you and your students in understanding the value of agriculture.
The core program of C.A.R.E.E. is the 4th grade comprehensive “Land of Illinois” program which includes four visits throughout the school year. Each lesson ends with a hands-on activity. Topics include Illinois agriculture, crops, livestock and technology. Each presentation lasts around 50 minutes and is aligned with Illinois State Learning Standards.
Throughout much of the history of the United States, agriculture and education have been closely related. During the decades when most Americans lived on farms or in small towns, students often did farm chores before and after school. Indeed, the school year was determined by planting, cultivating, and harvesting schedules. Old school books are full of agricultural references and examples because farming and farm animals were a familiar part of nearly every child's life.
Agriculture in the Classroom programs are implemented by state operated programs. USDA Agriculture in the Classroom supports state programs by providing a network that seeks to improve agricultural literacy — awareness, knowledge, and appreciation — among PreK-12 teachers and their students.
4-H is for all boys, girls, young men & women, ages 5-19 with activities & opportunities to meet new friends, develop interests & hobbies, increase self confidence, enjoy group activities, serve the community & much more!
Join the 4-H Revolution of Responsibility! Find out how others have made a difference in their community and see how you can make a difference by being a 4-H member too!
Grinnell Mutual is the largest primary reinsurer of farm mutual companies in North America because integrity and trust are our core values. That’s good business. Since 1976, Grinnell Mutual has been rated A (Excellent) or higher by A.M. Best Company. We’re also one of 10 Iowa companies to earn a Top Workplace award every year since the honor was created in 2010. It’s a reflection of Grinnell Mutual’s commitment to our most valuable asset — our employees.
Everything we do serves a single purpose — keeping our promise to take care of our customers, agents, mutuals, and employees, whatever tomorrow may bring. That’s why we invest in ideas that will keep us competitive and moving into the future.
The Illinois Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (IAMIC) is a member-run trade association composed of farm mutual insurance companies, reinsurance companies, associates and suppliers of the insurance industry. IAMIC was organized in 1881 in response to a need for the farm mutuals to have a collective "voice". The association is dedicated to encouraging and developing the practice of high standards of professional conduct among the insurance industry and other insurance-related professionals. The Mission of IAMIC is leadership, committed to the growth and development of the mutual insurance industry for the benefit of its members.
In 1752, a generation before he would become a Founding Father of the United States, Benjamin Franklin helped establish the first successful mutual insurance company in America. For more than 250 years, mutual insurance companies have been – and still are – about people coming together to protect themselves in a common need. Because there are no stockholders in a mutual insurance company, the interests of the policyholders are served first.
The median age of a mutual insurance company in the United States is 120 years. Following the Civil War, there was a boom of farm mutual companies, and many states began forming associations to bring together their respective states’ companies on common ground.
The idea for a national organization came in 1895 as members of the Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company of Iowa’s board of directors sat around a table after a meeting of their state association. It was suggested that Walter A. Rutledge, who had started Farmers Mutual Hail several years earlier, should invite mutual insurance executives from other states to consider forming a national association. That meeting, held the following year in Chicago, is considered the first organizational meeting of what was initially called the National Association of Co-Operative Mutual Insurance Companies.
For more than 120 years NAMIC has been serving in the best interests of mutual insurance companies – large and small – across the United States as well as in Canada.