Editor’s Note: The following article was written by the Angel Alvarez, the food and nutrition program coordinator of Centro Mater Childcare Services, at our request. This organization received funding from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Foundation’s Embrace a Healthy Florida initiative addressing the causes and prevention of childhood obesity. [...]

 My name is Stella the Whale. My friends at Florida Blue were nice enough to let me drop in and tell you about my journey starting October 14 and ending November 17. Children across the state of Florida are helping me, a life-size illustration of a baby right whale painted by renowned artist, Wylan [...]

“It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard, impossible is not a word; it’s just a reason for someone not to try.” Every email sent by Felicia Hardaway, principal of North Shore Elementary in Jacksonville, is tagged with that inspirational quote. If there is a single word to captur [...]

Celebrating their 100th anniversary this year, the Girls Scouts of America has a long tradition of empowering young women throughout the country by teaching them the value of honesty, confidence, courage and sisterhood. One of these extraordinary young ladies is 16-year-old Joslyn Simmons of the Florida Girl Scouts of Gateway Council [...]

If I walked into Coach Lopez’s office with a preconceived notion of what I’d hear during this interview, I left it with those notions swept clean. Sure, I knew I was talking with an Olympic medalist – he won the Bronze in the 200m breaststroke for Spain in the 1988 Olympics, competed again in 1992 and qualified [...]

There’s no denying it, Tampa Bay is an amazing place to live, work and play! That’s why it’s so important to Florida Blue to help make the thriving Tampa community an even healthier place to be. You may have seen our own Mark Lee, VP of the Brand Development and Marketing Communications team, speak about some of our ongoing initiatives and partnerships that we’re proud to be a part of at last wee [...]

Learning and growing can happen at any age, don’t you think? Karen Fergusson, a Florida Blue employee of 28 years, lives by this mantra. Our third Blue Community Champion of the Year is a disarming, genuine kind of person who knows how to put complicated matters in very plain terms. It’s those characteristics that may have contributed to her connection with a special little girl we’ll ca [...]

Ever have the good fortune of making a decision and not realizing the consequences would be far-reaching, unexpectedly positive, and life-affirming? Julie Engelien is one such lucky individual, and she is the second Blue Community Champion of the Year we are featuring in our series. Julie works in our National Accounts area and has been with Florida Blue for nearly 20 years.  She was recognized f [...]

We’d like to take a moment to recognize this real-life superwoman. Not only is she the mother of four children, but she’s also been a Human Resources representative for nearly 19 years. Can’t imagine taking on even more responsibility? She also volunteers and mentors at-risk school children. According to Janice Connelly, the time was simply right for her to become involved in a Pensacola-area sch [...]

The Miami Heat are giants on the court, but did you know they're heroes off it? Florida Blue has enjoyed a long relationship with The Heat, and support their community outreach efforts including teaching kids how to swim and be water safe. This year we were honored to help them open their ninth [...]