The Million Dollar Round Table and the MDRT Foundation are giving $50,000 to bushfire relief efforts in Australia.
(Related: China Oceanwide Donates $1.4 Million to Virus Fight)
The Park Ridge, Illinois-based organizations are sending $25,000 to the Australian Red Cross, and another $25,000 to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.
Bushfires have burned about 40,000 square miles of land in Australia in the past few month, and large fires are still burning in the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales. Fires are also threatening Canberra, Australia’s capital.
MDRT is a group for life insurance and financial services professionals who meet sales, ethics and community service standards. It now has about 70,000 members, including many in Australia. MDRT has had members in Australia since 1930.
Ross Vanderwolf, MDRT’s immediate past president, is a financial planner who lives near Brisbane, a 14-hour drive from Canberra.
MDRT held a global conference in Sydney in September. Fires have burned large areas in a region a short drive to the west of Sydney.
Regina Bedoya, MDRT’s current president, said in a comment about the donations that MDRT hopes the contributions will help support the recovery efforts and prevent future bushfire damage.
“Our hearts go out to the people of Australia in this unprecedented moment of hardship — to the impacted families and emergency personnel fighting the fires,” Bedoya said.
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