The catastrophic flood that recently struck Louisiana was one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history. Thousands of residents in Louisiana lost everything returning to destroyed homes with soaked belongings. Many of the areas hit were not in flood plains, so flood insurance was not required making assistance and donations even more crucial there.

"At its core, insurance provides a mechanism for us to band together in order to deal with the risks we all face, and charitable outreach is its natural partner—an affirmation of our shared humanity," said Rick Espino, president and CEO of Centauri Insurance. "The recent catastrophic flood losses in Louisiana showed that principle in action, with Lemon Mohler Insurance Agency, based in Mississippi, reaching out to Bourg Insurance in Baton Rouge to provide humanitarian supplies."

Brad Bourg and agency partners Scott Lemon and Mark Mohler became good friends after first serving together in the Louisiana and Mississippi Independent Insurance Agent organizations. Bourg and Lemon reunited at the Centauri award trips and while serving on the Centauri AAC (Agent Advisory Council) meetings along with Mark Mohler. As the flooding progressed earlier this year, the two stayed in close contact communicating how Bourg, his staff and customers were being impacted by the disaster.

"Some of our agency employees had friends and family involved in the flood area as well," Lemon said. "So we gathered supplies to send over."

Lemon said that his agency had gone through similar times during Hurricane Katrina and that they had friends who drove in from Florida with a truckload of supplies for their agency. "Our agency family was keenly aware of the physical and emotional impact on all involved from our experience with Katrina in 2005," he said.

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Remembering the overwhelming feeling of gratitude after receiving the generous gifts during Katrina, Lemon and Mohler decided that they wanted to take this opportunity to give back. "We talked about paying it forward to friends in the flooded area knowing the how the devastation can feel," said Lemon.

"My partner Mark Mohler started the ball rolling by volunteering to drive the supplies over and arranged for the trailer," said Lemon.

Several employees from Lemon Mohler and their families went shopping for supplies. As word spread about their donation effort, local churches even joined in bringing more supplies for Louisiana. 

"The pictures speak for themselves," said Lemon. "Mark along with his wife, Debbie, and their granddaughter, Alexa, woke up early and made the trip over to meet with Brad and his folks."

They arrived at Bourg Insurance's Prarieville office on August 24, 2016 with an entire U-Haul full of supplies to donate to flood victims in that area.  

"Our whole office was touched with Lemon Mohler reaching out to help," said Bourg. "We quickly dispersed much needed supplies to people who had nothing."

Lemon Mohler donated everything from bottled water to food to cleaning supplies and baby strollers. "It was nice seeing how much these affected people appreciated these supplies," said Bourg. "Great act of kindness on behalf of the some fine people at the Lemon-Mohler Agency."

"We are honored to have agency friends like Brad," said Lemon.

In the same spirit demonstrated by Lemon Mohler, Centauri donated $15,000 on behalf of our agency partners to a charity of their choosing. Seibels, our valued business partner, has also donated $10,000 to the Trusted Choice® Disaster Relief Fund to assist IIABA members and their staff with unrecoverable losses.

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Below are some of the charities who are receiving monetary donations from Centauri on behalf of our agency partners in Louisiana: