|
             
|
BENEFITS OF
K OF C INSURANCE
You may benefit both yourself and your
council by taking advantage, if you have not yet done
so, of one of the K of C insurance offerings at this
time when your financial situation presumably is
improving.
In college, insurance may have had little attraction,
but after that it takes on increasingly more
importance. But as you start building a working life,
it's certainly a time to take stock of your
responsibilities and the role of insurance in that
connection.
And when you do, you should think first of the insurance
offered by the K of C. No, we don't get a "cut" from
insurance sales, but we do benefit, as do all of our
Brother Knights.
How? There are several key things to remember
about K of C insurance.
The first is that it's not an add-on to the
Order, something that the Order does on the side. To
the contrary, it is an essential part of the Order,
designed into it by Fr. McGivney from the very
beginning. Our Order does not "run" or "own" an
insurance organization; we Knights of Columbus "are" of
our very nature an insurance organization, and a very
highly-rated one at that. We have a large network of
general agents and field agents--themselves brother
Knights--serving all our councils in the country.
Individuals don't have to take insurance as was formerly
the case, but technically they are "associate members"
if they do not.
Second, not only does K of C insurance provide
excellent value in itself, but the "profits" from it
(which in commercial companies would enrich
stockholders) go to help the Order in its work. We are
very dependent on those funds. It is precisely the
symbiotic combination of membership and insurance that,
in a practical sense, has given the Order the
international strength--both men and money--that it
enjoys today to serve God and man, and enables it to
keep growing in that service.
Third, beyond the benefit to the Order itself,
every year such "profits" also provide many millions for
direct charitable contributions by the Order on a
national and international scale. The Pope and the
Vatican have in particular greatly benefited from such
contributions. (Much has also come to the D.C. area,
including payments for telecasts from the Shrine,
pro-life funding for the USCC, the John Paul II
Institute on Marriage and the Family, millions for the
Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, etc. The list could
go on and on, as it is a long one.)
So insurance is a member benefit which you would
definitely do well to examine much more closely now,
even if you have not yet graduated. No one should take
insurance simply to buy a policy: it should have real
value to the individual in the context of his own
circumstances and financial planning. There are a
variety of insurance products, which the field agent for
your council (every council has one) will be glad to
discuss with you. |
