Last week about 50 volunteers from the Preferred Mutual Insurance Company spent the day aiding the local community. Top: President/CEO Benedikt Sander makes a company donation to the Unadilla Food Pantry. (Photo by Tyler Murphy)

NEW BERLIN - On Thursday, September 19, dozens of community volunteers from the Preferred Mutual Insurance Company spent half their day visiting nursing home residents, delivering donated back to school supplies, and aiding a good-will food pantry.

Preferred Mutual hosted its annual Corporate Conference Volunteer Day with about 50 employees continuing an annual tradition of spending an afternoon aiding various non-profit community organizations in New Berlin and Norwich.

Preferred Mutual volunteers met with residents at Chase Nursing Home and played Super Bingo. Others organized an ice cream social with the Chenango County Area on Aging at the First United Methodist Church, where the company President/CEO Benedikt Sander made a company donation to the Unadilla Food Pantry. Volunteers also filled free backpacks with donated school supplies for Unadilla Valley students. Then on Thursday night in Norwich, Preferred Mutual volunteers helped with the Helping Hands giveaway night at the Norwich Family YMCA for those in need.

“Being closer to the community has been part of who we are since the beginning, since 1896, and the good thing is we’ve worked hard to preserve our culture and many of the employees we have today value being close to community and to our customers,” said Sander. He joined Preferred Mutual in the summer of 2019 and has been the CEO since January 1, 2022.