During Veterans Day Week, State Farm(R) to Help America Say Thank You to Members of the Military and Their Families

During Veterans Day Week, State Farm(R) to Help America Say Thank You to
Members of the Military and Their Families
Donation up to $50,000 for Fisher House Foundation via ThanksForBeingThere.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ill., Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- A simple "thank you" can be a
powerful thing. A new Web site launching today, ThanksForBeingThere.com, lets
people express their thanks to others using social media. They can create and
post personal "thank you" messages accompanied by a photo or short video.
During the week of Veterans Day (Nov. 8-14), as a way of helping the country
say "thanks for being there" to our nation's service men and women, State Farm
will donate $1 to the Fisher House Foundation for every thank you sent.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091104/MN04302)

Fisher House is a military support organization that is there for military
families whose loved ones are undergoing treatment at military or Veterans
Affairs (VA) medical centers throughout the country and overseas in Germany.
They will receive a donation of up to $50,000.

"My family was fortunate enough to take advantage of Fisher House's services
when I was injured during my service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and recovering
at a military medical facility," said Troy O'Donley, State Farm employee and
president-elect of State Farm's employee Military Affinity Group (MAG). "State
Farm has a long-standing commitment to supporting members of the U.S. Armed
Forces, and I'm excited to see my company help America say 'thank you' to
them. This important job is stressful to individuals and families, and this
type of appreciation means so much to so many."

ThanksForBeingThere.com encourages Americans to express gratitude to those who
have made an impact in their lives. Anyone can send a thank you in three easy
steps by visiting www.ThanksForBeingThere.com. In addition to appearing on the
site, people can share their messages via email and on their personal social
media pages. The number of thank you messages is tallied on the homepage and
site content is searchable allowing visitors to experience the power of people
coming together in one place to reach out and thank others.

The goal of Fisher House Foundation is to ensure families of wounded service
men and women have a "home away from home" on the grounds of major military
and VA medical centers, enabling family members to be close when their loved
one is hospitalized for an unexpected illness, disease or injury. There are 43
Fisher Houses located on 18 military installations and 13 VA medical centers
in the United States, and all homes are operated and maintained by the Army,
Navy, Air Force or Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2008 alone, these
comfort homes saved military families more than $12 million in lodging
expenses.

"Fisher House is delighted to be the beneficiary of the
ThanksForBeingThere.com campaign," said Jim Weiskopf, Fisher House Foundation
Vice President. "State Farm's initiative honors America's heroes - its service
men and women - while raising money enabling us to build more Fisher Houses to
assist military families and increase awareness for our programs."

About State Farm®:
State Farm insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the U.S., is
the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer in Canada.
State Farm's 17,700 agents and 68,600 employees serve 81 million policies and
accounts - more than 78.7 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the
United States and Canada, and more than 1.9 million bank accounts. State Farm
Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of
companies. State Farm is ranked No. 31 on the Fortune 500 list of largest
companies. State Farm's commitment to the military extends more than 65 years
with a world-class military leave policy and through its support of programs
like the employee Military Affinity Group, Adopt-a-Soldier, and the Employer
Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). For more information, please visit
statefarm.com® or in Canada statefarm.ca®.

About Fisher House Foundation
Fisher House Foundation is best known for the network of 43 comfort homes on
the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. The houses are 5,000 to
16,800 square foot homes, with up to 21 suites, donated to the military and
Department of Veterans Affairs by Fisher House Foundation. The Foundation
provides support to families of patients receiving care at the nearby medical
center and has ensured that families of service men and women wounded or
injured in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom do not pay
for their stay at a Fisher House or other base facility if they are on a wait
list. For more information on the work of Fisher House Foundation, go to
www.fisherhouse.org, or call toll-free (888) 294-8560.

SOURCE State Farm

Mia Jazo-Harris of State Farm Insurance, +1-309-766-5242,
mia.jazo-harris.sfdx@statefarm.com; or Stacey Tuthill of Weber Shandwick,
+1-952-346-6506, stuthill@webershandwick.com, for State Farm