New York Life Contributes More Than 6,000 Volunteer Hours During Month of Service

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YORK, N.Y. (October 27) — New York Life Insurance Company held the company's Month of Service in September and had more than 1,600 employees and agents volunteer in their local communities where the company does business. Volunteers worked on 116 community projects to support the childhood bereavement theme and gave more than 6,000 hours of service — the equivalent of 3.3 people working full-time for an entire year. The estimated monetary value of this volunteer time is more than $128,000.*

New York Life's Month of Service was held during the nationally recognized Life Insurance Awareness Month to draw attention to the power of selfless giving both through volunteering and the gift of a life insurance policy to a family.

"While New York Life has provided peace of mind and financial security to families after the loss of a loved one for 166 years, helping others in need goes beyond the reach of our business, it's part of our culture," said Chris Park, president, New York Life Foundation. "The Foundation added childhood bereavement as a content area in 2008, and by choosing the theme of childhood bereavement for the company's Month of Service this year we are able to add people power to highlight the importance of this issue. Our agents and employees were able to offer their time and talent and improve the lives of young people and their families coping with loss in the cities and towns where they live and work."

New York Life agents and employees volunteered at bereavement camps for children; participated in fundraising activities for bereavement organizations; and created comfort items for grieving children.

Also last month, the New York Life Foundation announced the launch of www.AChildInGrief.com, a comprehensive, user-friendly Web site for parents, families and educators to support bereaved children. The site will continually be enhanced and most recently a video was added, "Learn to Help a Child Through Grief," featuring Dr. Schonfeld, a developmental behavioral pediatrician and an authority in the field of childhood bereavement and New York Life Foundation President Chris Park.