One person choosing to do the right thing can make a world of difference. It makes even more of a difference when they mobilize others to join in their cause.

Jim Werbeckes is one such person. He is VP Government & Regulatory Affairs at EMPLOYERS, an insurance company.

Based in Reno, Nevada, EMPLOYERS is a specialty provider of workers’ compensation insurance focused on select small businesses engaged in low to medium hazard industries. They serve clients in 46 states and the District of Columbia.

Jim discovered Kids’ Chance in 2016 and couldn’t imagine an organization that would be a better fit for EMPLOYERS. “The nature of workers’ compensation is coming alongside employees in moments of unexpected difficulty and helping guide them to a more positive outcome. In many ways, Kid’s Chance is an extension of our core mission.”

He decided the best place to start was in Nevada, home base for EMPLOYERS.

Growing Kids’ Chance of Nevada

After Jim learned about Kids’ Chance and attended his first Kids’ Chance event, he knew it was something that EMPLOYERS needed to be involved in as a company.

He felt it was important to first start at home. “Given the fact that we’ve been in this state for 110 plus years, it was really the area that we needed to focus on first - getting the state organization up and running.”

Jim reached out to Vicki Burkhart, the Executive Director of Kids’ Chance of America. He discovered that the Nevada organization existed, but that the group had been experiencing challenges gaining traction.

When he started, the group still needed bylaws, had $550 in the bank, and had not yet given out a scholarship.

Jim became the president of the organization, engaged others to join its leadership, and worked to build connections in the workers’ compensation community. Now the organization has over $150,000 in the bank, and EMPLOYERS has donated over $85,000 to Kids’ Chance of Nevada.

To date, Kids’ Chance of Nevada has given out 4 scholarships.

“One thing about Kids’ Chance that people outside our community don’t realize,” shared Vicki Burkhart, "is that many of our national level volunteers, and partners, became involved with Kids' Chance by volunteering with their respective state organizations that award scholarships to the kids who need them the most.”

Supporting Kids’ Chance of America

Once Kids’ Chance of Nevada was up and running, Jim decided that as a national company, EMPLOYERS needed to participate at the national level as well.

They became a partner in 2018. Kids’ Chance of America partners give $25,000 or more annually and must commit to a multi-year pledge of at least 4 years.

Additionally, partners must raise awareness across the country. One of the ways EMPLOYERS chose to do that was with a competition among their independent agent partners. The money raised went to the state organizations.

The leadership set a goal for the competition of $40,000. They ended up raising and donating $108,000 with 37 states receiving checks.

As part of the program, they had people on the ground sharing the Kids' Chance mission. “The goal was to make it so that if they see claims come in that are potential Kids’ Chance recipients, then they can get Kids’ Chance information to that client,” said Jim. “It’s another way to help flag potential kids – and we all know how difficult it is to find kids.”

Leading Next Steps in Nevada

Raising money for scholarships is half the job. The other half is identifying potential applicants.

Jim has taken on this challenge in Nevada. “The Division of Industrial Relations knows who all of the kids receiving death benefits are. We made a request for them to send some information to these kids to let them know we’re here and we can help. The DIR came back and said they didn’t have the legislative authority to do that.”

This response didn’t stop Jim. In 2019, he went to the legislature and passed Assembly Bill 455 which gives the DIR the authority to send information out to nonprofit organizations.

There’s still work to do and Jim remains committed to implementing a better process to identify applicants and provide aid.

Helping Injured Workers

For many members of the workers’ compensation industry, Kids’ Chance is a natural extension of the work they do every day.

Jim is one of the standout leaders in our community, but we are fortunate to have so many volunteers and supporters across the country committed to our goal of #MoreMoneyforMoreKids.

With 47 state organizations, we’re always looking for more. Reach out to Kids’ Chance of America if you'd like to get involved at the national level, or get in touch with the organization in your state today.

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