By Natalie Salvatore
For the Opelika Observer
Opelika native Kali Chadick knew when she returned to Auburn to start her own State Farm Insurance Agency that she wanted to give back to her beloved community.
After graduating from Auburn University and working in different roles as an employee of State Farm, Chadick became a small-business owner of the only State Farm agency in that part of town.
Her father has been a State Farm agent for almost 50 years. “I grew up and knew I wanted to be a State Farm agent,” Chadick said.
After serving for the Women’s Hope Medical Clinic of Auburn at the Church of the Highlands on a Serve Day, Chadick decided on the first direction she wanted to take in donating to the community. Her own personal experiences, such as being adopted, connected her with this local, non-profit resource center.
“It was clear that God was leading me to support them and to be a part of their incredible community work,” Chadick said.
For more than 36 years, Women’s Hope has been providing confidential, free-of-charge services to women, as well as to men and families, as they all navigate through the pregnancy process. The clinic offers services such as parenting programs, support groups, ultrasounds, pregnancy tests and prenatal care.
“We went back and forth about what we wanted to donate specifically to, and we were really interested in the dad program that they do,” Chadick said.
During a pregnancy, Chadick said sometimes, fathers can feel removed from the situation, especially if the women are unmarried. With this fatherhood program, dads can attend parenting and budgeting classes to increase their involvement with the mother and baby. When fathers complete 13 hours of educational programming, they earn a brand-new crib for their baby. Women’s Hope Executive Director Daria Monroe said this program seeks to empower fathers and help them realize they are important parts of their families.
One month ahead of the agency’s grand opening in September, one of their first initiatives in donating with Women’s Hope was the Quotes for Good campaign. For every insurance quote Chadick gave with the mention of Women’s Hope, she raised $10 for them.
The total donation to Women’s Hope of $840 will go towards buying approximately six cribs for these fathers.
“Women’s Hope Medical Clinic is thankful to Kali and State Farm for this generous gift. We would also like to thank everyone who participated in Quotes for Good,” Monroe said.
Chadick said they plan to do this again sometime in the spring in conjunction with some of their spring events. As of Oct. 15, they are doing the same thing, but with Toys for Tots instead. This campaign will end on Dec. 15.
The Quotes for Good Campaign is a way to support local charities.
“Even Toys for Tots, we made sure the money we raised for that is going to stay local and go to local kids,” Chadick said.
Chadick encourages any local charity that would like to partner with her agency and help donate to reach out. The agency’s number is 334-539-9820, and it is located next to the new Hamilton’s at 1849 Ogletree Road, Suite 300.