
Bouvier Brigade
The employee-run charitable arm of Bouvier Insurance: We work, support, and give back to the communities we live in.
Employer-supported; employee-led volunteering and support in your neighborhood.
Freely giving time and labor in the name of community service is important to us.
Our mission: The Bouvier Brigade is the employee sponsored charitable works outreach division of Bouvier Insurance. This passionate employee group is responsible for organizing service projects as well as raising awareness and much needed funds for qualified charities within the communities where we work, live and play.
Created as a way to celebrate Bouvier’s 60th anniversary we have continued the program to assist our communities on a regular basis. Promoting social awareness through volunteerism, contributions, and collections we have become an outreach service program that our community partners can rely on.













































“Please, please know how grateful I am to Bouvier (and the Lions too). The grant you secured for us is being used up and couldn’t have come at a better time. For Friday’s distribution we bulk purchased food that we don’t typically have in the locker. Families and seniors will receive frozen meals, chicken nuggets, bread, hot dogs, etc… I am certain it will be appreciated. ... You’re all the kindest people and your humanitarian work is so impressive. ”
“I wanted to send you a note to say THANK YOU so much for the blankets and welcome baskets today. You made our day... It was a wonderful surprise and greatly appreciated. ”

Sharing the warmth
Upon entering the Albert J. Solnit Center, children are gifted a blanket of their choosing to help create a warm and welcoming environment for their stay at this impactful facility and even get to take this blanket home with them when they leave!
The Bouvier Brigade, who has a long-standing relationship with the Center, arranged a day for our staff to put together some no sew fleece blankets in various fun patterns, for new incoming children…

Diaper Dilemma, solved
The Brigade has been hard at work again this month, maintaining meaningful community connections while supporting children and families in our area. The Casual for a Cause funds collected first quarter were utilized to purchase over 14,000 wipes and approximately 10,000 diapers for families in need.
From our West Hartford office, Director of Personal Lines, Jenna Mackey, made a delivery of diapers to our friends at CT Partnership for Children…

The Spirit of Christmas
The spirit of Christmas is alive and well here at Bouvier Insurance!
Through the generosity of our employees, we were able to fulfill wishes of nine teens at the Albert J. Solnit Center, as well as a family of four children from Waterford Youth Services. Making this holiday a little brighter for those in need.

Casual for a Cause, continued
Our casual for a cause funds were put to great use, once again!

Connecting with ConnectiKids
ConnectiKids is one of our Brigade’s favorite charities, and this positive youth development nonprofit knows they can always count on us! This past Thursday, nine of our staff members stepped up to assist with organizing their art room, sorting books, and moving items into storage…

Volunteer of the Year!
Some of our team spent yesterday morning at the 14th annual Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut Social Services Recognition Breakfast, to support our very own, Melissa Yuchniuk, who was honored as Volunteer of the Year!
If you live or work in the greater Waterford/Oakdale area and dabble in the social services at all, there is a good chance you have met or heard about the efforts of Melissa! The creator of our agency’s charitable division — The Bouvier Brigade — Melissa dedicates any available time she has…

Cleaning with Connectikids
Members of our Brigade spent the day, this past Friday, with our friends at Connectikids organizing donations, cleaning supply closets, and getting the kitchens ready for their programs.
ConnectiKids is a nonprofit organization that provides one-on-one academic tutoring, individualized mentoring, arts and enrichment programs, and community-based learning experiences during the academic year and summer to local Hartford youth…

Casual for a Cause
The Bouvier Brigade utilized this quarter’s employee contributions from our Casual for a Cause collection to purchase over 200lbs of dog food, 200lbs of cat foot, 700lbs of cat litter, and other various necessities for the Waterford East Lyme Animal Control, Old Lyme Animal Control, and West Hartford Animal Control facilities.
These municipal organizations are often under funded and rely on donations to properly care for the animals under their ward…

Sunshine for St. Vincent de Paul
St Vincent de Paul PlaceNorwich, CT offers complementary services to those who are struggling with homelessness, unemployment, physical or mental disabilities, underemployment, and addiction issues. Their community includes the elderly, veterans, & children.
This week the Bouvier Brigade was able to assist in spreading some sunshine and fun to the children who are recipients of their programs by playing games, crafting, and providing healthy snacks…

Healing Meals
There are so many ways to utilize our staff, but one of our favorites is when we can donate time to our community.
Getting our hands dirty and spending the morning working in the garden for Healing Meals Community Project is such a gratifying way to support this amazing program...

Uniting for United
Another great year collecting for the Uniting of United Food Drive!
This year, we were able to deliver 1,752 pounds of food to benefit the Gemma Moran Food Center/United Way…

Beach access success
Across from Green Harbor Park on Pequot Avenue in New London, CT, you will find a sandy little beach, known as Green Harbor Beach. This quaint summer destination is one of the only free public beaches left in the area.
They say that many hands make light work and this project held true to that saying. What started as a vision by one of our Insurance Advisors, Mark Spinnato, became a reality with the support of the Bouvier Brigade…

CFA 5k!
When our friends at Child and Family Agencyof Southeastern Connecticut expressed their desire to create a Mental Health Awareness 5K, Bouvier Insurance not only jumped in as one of the first sponsors, but our Brigade and members of our staff worked closely on the organizing committee. In addition to volunteering, many members of our staff walked and ran in support of this great cause!
Proceeds from this event will support Child and Family Agency…

Team Build Day
This week the Bouvier Brigade got to practice their team building skills with a Team Build Day for Middlesex Habitat for Humanity of CT. What a fun and rewarding experience for those who participated. Even though they had no prior construction experience, this group jumped right into learning the ins and outs of siding installation, getting this house one step closer to completion…

Sharing our gratitude
We’ve been busy bees this week!
Non-perishable Thanksgiving sides and other goodies were delivered to both Waterford Youth Services Community Food Locker and Jonnycake Center this past Friday!
These donations would not be possible without the generosity of our employees. Thanks to them we were able to help feed a bunch of local families this Thanksgiving!
Turkey trottin’ away
Super proud to be a part of this event year after year!
Thanks to our friends at Quincy Mutual Group for partnering with us for an additional donation and thanks to our employees who donated thanksgiving sides that were delivered directly to Connecticut Foodshare.

The Sun was shining
The Bouvier Brigade was honored to join the Connecticut Sun for such a fun day out in the community!
Thanks to The Village for Families & Children for having us!

A United collection to combat hunger
Each year Bouvier participates in the Uniting for United Competitive Food Drive to benefit the Gemma Moran Food Center/United Way sponsored by the Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce - Norwich, CT and each year we are able to increase our donation just a little bit more.
Today we delivered a whopping 2032 pounds of non perishable food along with a $125 donation, equivalent to 375 meals! A huge thank you to our staff, friends, and families who support this endeavor each year. A very special shout out to TLC Floor Center LLC, RY Consulting LLC, and Coliseum Co - Welcome to Your Path to Home Ownership for their VERY generous donation. #UnitingforUnited #unitedway #GNACC

Striking some inspiration to give back
Members of our team had the honor of representing Bouvier for the 9th Annual Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut Foundation Bowl-A-Thon. Not only did we get to enjoy a fun night out, but we were also recognized as the top fundraising team for the year. Funds raised at this event benefit children and their families within Southeastern Connecticut. We are so proud to be able to continuously support this great organization!

Books new and old find good homes
Recently we received a thank you from Whales Tales Book Bank for the Board Books and Spanish children’s books we donated benefitting a play group of preschoolers. We were thrilled to hear how just days after being received so many of the books were already being enjoyed by their group!
Overall we collected about 1,000 books during our March Casual for a Cause collection, shared between amazing local programs like Whales Tales and Madonna Place. These programs benefit many families in Southeastern CT, promoting literacy and family …

Do you have a volunteer opportunity you’d like to share with us?
We can help with that.
Melissa Yuchniuk
Brigade Chair
myuchniuk@binsurance.com
Ext. 184
Chelsea Cannon, ACSR
Brigade Co-Chair
ccannon@binsurance.com
Ext. 338
Casey Robotham
Brigade Co-Chair
crobotham@binsurance.com
Ext. 259