Downey Insurance Group Blog | Great Insurance People

You may pre-order your one of 10,000 license plates for $25, for shipment on 2/1/2012. More license plates may be created if there is a strong demand, but pre-ordering will get you on the list for the first edition.

The idea for the plates arose the of the “I Am Vermont Strong” movement that was started by Lyz Tomsuden and Eric Mallete of Rutland, VT.  Originally “I am Vermont Strong” started as a Facebook photo that went viral. Vermonters loved the message so much that they started  requesting t-shirts by the hundreds.  So far they have sold over 4,500 t-shirts to Vermonters and Vermont supporters.

“I am Vermont Strong” will be donating $18 to the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund, and $2 to the Vermont Food bank for every license plate sold.  Irene cause so much damage to the state of Vermont and donations are starting to decline, new sources of revenue for the relief funds can only help our cause.  The resiliency and resourcefulness of our people never cease to amaze me as we travel on this journey to recovery.

To Pre-Order Your “I am Vermont Strong” plate you may do so through Vermont Life, and to read more about the “I am Vermont Strong” movement check out their website http://vtstrong.vermont.gov/ or Facebook Page.

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After 3 months at our temporary location at 57 Elliot Street  Brattleboro, VT we are finally back in our 80 Flat Street Location that was flooded out by hurricane Irene.  What a crazy ride it has been, but what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.  Overall Downey Insurance Group is lucky, all we lost were material possessions.  Thanks to technology and the ability to work “in the cloud” we did not lose any of our policy data and we were able to help clients with their own claims during and after the disaster.  We could work from the top of Mt. Wantastiquet if we wanted to, but there is nothing like you own familiar surroundings to make you feel at home.  With the addition of new office furniture and carpet we think our office is looking pretty snazzy.  Thank you to Conte Office Interiors for helping us with our new office furniture!

Looking around Flat Street it is hard to envision what it looked like during the flood.  We found this video on You Tube, we don’t know this guy but I would like to thank him for this crazy footage of Flat Street during the flood.  Check out this video of our office building being ravaged by the flood waters…

To get the whole story read our first Flood Blog post.

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Downey Insurance Group is fully functional even as our Brattleboro, VT office is currently under water with the many other businesses near Main Street in Brattleboro, Vermont.  The area is experiencing devastation from flooding conditions that have not been seen in nearly a century.   Many of the residents in Vermont were not expecting this magnitude of flooding from hurricane Irene. Rivers and streams flooded quickly forcing people to evacuate without much notice and without many options.   Many of these flooded homes and businesses are without flood insurance which will make recovery difficult for many.   FEMA will be assessing the damage and should be accepting request for Disaster Assistance shortly.

Unlike some of the businesses in the area, it is crucial for Downey Insurance Group to maintain complete functionally during this crisis due to the nature of our business. We are responsible for filing claims for our clients during this difficult time.  We are simultaneously working on our own claim for Downey’s Brattleboro office that is currently still unreachable due to flooding conditions.  We have re-routed our phone lines to our only fully operational location in Keene, NH where we currently have power, internet, and phone.   Our Marlborough, MA office is semi-functional  with power and phone, but no internet.  Thankfully as part of our Emergency Management Plan we have the capacity to handle this type of  situation with lists of phone and fax numbers for our insurance companies and paper claims forms.

Charlie Downey sprang into action this morning by driving up to Brattleboro, VT through the devastation zone to reach out to the community to find a temporary office space to house our Brattleboro, VT during the cleanup.  The rest of our team at Downey Insurance is working feverishly to file claims for our clients and to help the people during their time of need.  The teamwork and quick action of the Downey Insurance Group family have made this all possible.

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