A Year of Giving at Senior Marketing Specialists

2020 was an especially rough year, filled with daily challenges, both great and small. But 2020 was also our best year yet—thanks to our agents and our employees.

Together we adapted to remote sales and service for our clients—helping to secure healthcare for countless seniors during a global pandemic. Together we exemplified resilience and success despite the unrest in the world around us; and together we upheld one of our company’s core beliefs—that service to our agents, to each other, and to our community should never stop.

As our team has grown over the years, so has our ability to reach out to our community and be involved. Senior Marketing Specialists’ 12 Months of Giving program was created by employees to impact positive change with local charitable organizations. Not only does our team get involved by raising money and gifts for local groups, but we also donate our time and energy. We believe that the spirit of service shouldn’t be just for the holidays, but every month and every day of the year. ‘Tis always the season at Senior Marketing Specialists.

Every month during our 12 Months of Giving we designate a particular organization that we focus on. The organizations we select always have a local impact on the community and are often groups that our employees have suggested we work with.

As a company, we are able to make a larger impact with there being so many of us. We are also able to help out causes that are important to our staff. Someone brings attention to a cause that means a lot to them and together we find a fun way to support that cause.

- Katlyn D.

I absolutely love that my SMS family has supported [the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation] with me! It shows how much our company cares about their individual employees and what is going on in our lives.

- Lizzy N.

The list of organizations that our employees support is long because the desire to serve our community is deeply ingrained in each one of us. We support: Adopt-a-Spot, Alzheimer’s Association, American Red Cross, Assistance League of Missouri, Bernie Mac Sarcoidosis Foundation, Boone County Animal Care, Cancer Care, Central Missouri Humane Society, Child Centers Inc, Children’s Hospital, Columbia Missouri Senior Center, Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, Foodbank of Central Missouri, Granny’s House, Head for the Cure, Honor Flight of Central Missouri, Paul Recker 5k, Ronald McDonald House, Summer Food 4 Kids Program, Susan B Komen Foundation, Together We Rise, and the Voluntary Action Center.

Our company’s President, JoAnn Wray, stated that “when [she] started SMS, one of the core values was to make sure that everyone in our company knows and understands how blessed we are and that taking care of others in our community should just be a fundamental part of our company.” Something the employees feel strongly about too; “giving as a company is important because I firmly believe that corporations have a responsibility to the communities around them”. – Lizzy N.

That spirit of service is a shared commitment within the Senior Marketing Specialists family and something the employees take serious and actively participate in. Over the course of 2020 our employees have donated 27 hours of their time, contributions have exceeded over $12,000 in total giving for the year, and the impact has been immeasurable.

Service and giving back to the community has always been a core value of Senior Marketing Specialists. We take immense pride in our employee’s devotion to their community, and we’re setting our goals even higher for 2021!

I believe we are all in this together and we all should be doing whatever we can to help each other. It’s important for the company I work with to share the same goals.

- Josh L.