Jennifer Oegema—President, ONA
To celebrate a milestone anniversary, ONA (Oegema, Nicholson & Associates) made a donation to the Ottawa Food Bank to stock 60 fridges for families in need. ONA President Jennifer Oegema shares the significance charitable giving has to her and her brokerage.
ONA—now into our 60th year and third generation of Oegemas—has always prided itself on taking care of families within our brokerage, in the insurance industry, with our clients and in the communities we serve. My father, our leader, President and friend, Bart Oegema whom we suddenly lost this time last year, was always ready to go the extra mile to help those in need, whomever they may be. In keeping his legacy alive, ONA will never cease giving.
Whether it’s with annual BBQs for the National Denim Day for the Cure, participating in the Ottawa 9runrun supporting First Responders, annual Food Drives for the Ottawa Food Bank, sorting food items in the annual Ottawa Food Bank Sorting Challenge, pledging funds for Juvenile Diabetes, the annual Ride for Dad, or through our own ONA Blood Bank Drive, we not only contribute, but participate regularly as a team with our family members beside us. As an organization we also work closely with Loaves and Fishes Fund of Ottawa Carleton, a local charity founded by my grandfather.
We not only contribute, but participate regularly as a team with our family members beside us.
We have five local store front offices within the greater Ottawa area and pride ourselves in giving back to each of these communities individually and as a whole. We’ve supported local hockey, ringette, soccer and school clubs and participate in local holiday parades and community event days.
As part of our brokerage’s annual objective setting, we invite team members to present their own charities and charitable initiatives for them, or for ONA, to get involved with, creating their own goal setting process. It keeps new ideas coming and gives way for individual team members to take on new initiatives they may not have before.
With the holiday season upon us, we’ll be donating new unwrapped toys to the Salvation Army’s Ottawa Toy Mountain, making the joy of Christmas possible for struggling families. We’ll be making another monetary donation to the Ottawa Food Bank, and new initiatives will be set in the new year.
We’ll continue in my father’s footsteps, focusing on families large and small, and the immeasurable impacts they have in our daily lives. “Family isn’t an important thing—it’s everything.” We stand behind this belief each day, and in the work we do as a brokerage team.