Attorney

State Farm seeks volunteers for 3rd annual Million Meal Pack. Posted: Sep 17, 2026 / 06:05 PM CDT Updated: Sep 17, 2026 / 06:19 PM CDT BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) - Thousands of volunteers are needed for the third annual Million Meal Pack event next weekend. Held from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sept. 26, the event is put on by State Farm in partnership with Illinois State University and US Hunger. The goal is to pack one million boxes filled with ingredients to make jambalaya. "We are bringing everyone from the community, everyone from every organization, work, play, home. We're going to get together and we will pack one million meals in one day. All of the meals will stay right here in McLean County and the rest of the state of Illinois," said Melissa Shrader, manager of the corporate responsibilities department for State Farm. They chose to fill the boxes with jambalaya ingredients because they can stay shelf-stable for up to two years. US Hunger is providing all of the food to put into these boxes. Shrader hopes people will come and help fill the boxes to support the more than a million people living with food insecurity in Illinois. "We know that in the state of Illinois there are 1.5 million people who live with food insecurity. So we never want anyone to have to make that decision: Do I pay my rent, or do I feed my family? So we really think this is such a worthy event that we want everybody to participate," said Shrader. Looking ahead, Shrader hopes they can keep growing the event, get more people involved every year and possibly expand to two million boxes. "I hope that it continues to grow and that we get so many volunteers, and maybe we turn this into a two-day event and we do two million meals. Maybe that could be our ultimate goal," she said. The Million Meal Pack will take place at the ISU CEFCU Arena. To sign up to volunteer, visit the event website.

Illinois State Athletics to host State Farm Million Meal Pack on September 26. NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State University and Redbird Athletics are teaming up with State Farm and US Hunger to host the third Million Meal Pack on Saturday, September 26, from 8:30 a.m.- 6 p.m. at CEFCU Arena. "When we come together as a University and as a community, we have an opportunity to make a difference far beyond our campus. Illinois State is proud to partner with State Farm on the Million Meal Pack and to build on a relationship grounded in a shared commitment to serving others," Illinois State President Dr. Aondover Tarhule said. "I invite our Redbird community and our neighbors throughout McLean County to join us in addressing food insecurity and providing meals to families in need. Bring your family, your friends and your colleagues, and let's show what is possible when we come together to do something good for others." This event will require approximately 5,000 volunteers working alongside each other to pack and assemble one million meals that will be distributed throughout McLean County and the state of Illinois by way of the Midwest Food Bank to help feed people struggling with food insecurity. A total of 1 in 8 people and 1 in 6 children in Illinois face hunger. The School Street Food Pantry on campus will also receive meal packs as part of this effort. "We are proud to once again partner with State Farm, the University and the surrounding Bloomington-Normal community to host the Million Meal Pack," Illinois State Director of Athletics Dr. Jeri Beggs stated. "As you can imagine, it takes thousands of volunteers to help us reach our goal of packing one million meals to help feed people struggling with food insecurity. I urge anyone in the community to sign up to volunteer alongside our coaches, student-athletes and staff on September 26 inside CEFCU Arena." This event is a great opportunity for University students, faculty and staff, community businesses, friends, and families to make a difference in the fight against hunger. Participants (ages 5 years and older) can sign up for 90-minute volunteer shift(s) via the signup link at GoRedbirds.com/MillionMeal or on the front page of GoRedbirds.com under the quick links box. GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Athletic Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.

Fire Survivor group says it has sued the Insurance Commissioner over the State Farm case. The network says no neutral decisionmaker has been provided to hear its request to join the state's enforcement case. Published on Wednesday, September 9, 2026 | 6:01 am A Altadena-based network of Eaton and Palisades fire survivors said Tuesday it has sued Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to keep the state's case against State Farm from being settled before survivors are heard. Every Fire Survivor's Network says its petition asks a court to order the California Department of Insurance to provide a neutral decisionmaker to hear the group's request to join the enforcement case, and to bar the department and State Farm from settling, dismissing or narrowing that case until the request is decided. The group says it is not asking the court to rule on whether State Farm broke the law, or to grant the intervention itself. The underlying case is the department's own. On May 4, the department filed an Accusation and Order to Show Cause against State Farm General Insurance Company, the first step toward a public hearing before an administrative law judge. Department examiners reviewed a sample of 220 claims and found 398 violations of state law in 114 of them, citing slow and inadequate investigations, missed statutory deadlines for accepting, denying and paying claims, misclassified testing costs, misrepresented policy provisions and inadequate communication, according to the department. The filing adds 34 further violations drawn from consumer complaints. Penalties may reach $5,000 per violation, or $10,000 for willful violations, and the department has asked to suspend State Farm's certificate of authority for up to a year. The matter is File No. OSC-2026-00001. State Farm has rejected the department's account. Responding to the May filing, the company said it rejects any suggestion that it "engaged in a general practice of mishandling" or intentionally underpaid wildfire claims, and said it would respond through the process. The survivors' group petitioned the department on June 16 for full party status, seeking the right to conduct discovery, present evidence, cross-examine witnesses and take part in settlement talks. Nearly three months on, the group says, no decisionmaker has been provided to hear the petition while the enforcement case moves ahead. It says the department has served State Farm with charges and discovery, that State Farm has responded, that the department describes the two sides as in "early discovery," and that the group is informed and believes the department and State Farm are privately negotiating a possible settlement. "Survivors should not have to fight our own insurance regulator," Joy Chen, the group's executive director, said in the announcement. "They should have their petition to participate decided by a neutral decisionmaker," Pamela Pressley, senior staff attorney at Consumer Watchdog, said in the same announcement. The group says it holds firsthand accounts from more than 1,600 State Farm policyholders describing the same practices the department found in its sample, evidence it says goes to the question State Farm disputes: whether the violations were isolated or a general business practice. It is represented by Singleton Schreiber and Consumer Watchdog. Based in Pasadena, the network says it represents more than 10,000 survivors and allies of the two fires. State Farm policyholders filed approximately 11,300 residential claims from the Los Angeles wildfires, according to the department's claims tracker. Los Angeles County opened a separate front on Aug. 31, suing State Farm over its handling of Eaton and Palisades claims under the state's unfair competition and false advertising laws and seeking restitution for policyholders, according to County Counsel Dawyn Harrison. The County Counsel's investigation drew on information from the survivors' network and other community organizations. Get our daily Pasadena newspaper in your email box. Free. Get all the latest Pasadena news, more than 10 fresh stories daily, 7 days a week at 7 a.m.