Corey is a volunteer Wish Granter for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the famous non-profit organization that helps chronically and critically ill children live out their dreams.

“Hope is contagious,” says Corey, a truly amazing Good Neighbor and State Farm director. “By giving these kids something to look forward to, we’re helping take their minds off of their illness, even if it’s only for a little while.”

2,700 miles from home. A highway slathered in snow and ice. The temperature far below freezing.

As 81-year-old Bill Briggs braced the steering wheel, he knew this Alaskan drive would be difficult. But he was determined to get his granddaughter Ellen and her trusty pooch Annie home for the holidays.

“My granddaughter finished a medical internship in Alaska this past December,” said Bill. “I didn’t want her traveling alone in these conditions.  I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. I’m used to slicker than slick.”

But as the trio began their trek on the Alcan Highway, Bill and his crew found themselves in a terrifying situation.

“I was about 70 miles out, with poor visibility,” Bill explained. “Before I knew it, the road curved – and my back tire caught the shoulder of the highway.”

In a matter of seconds, Bill’s SUV turned into an erratic Tilt-A-Whirl, spinning out of control, eight feet down an embankment and into the path of an unforgiving tree.

The family closed their eyes. Ellen clutched Annie--bracing for the impact.

And then there was silence.

“I saw it happen”

On that Saturday morning State Farm agent Glenn Marlin found himself driving behind a mid-sized SUV. “It was snowing so hard I could not see the license plate," said Glenn. But I remember thinking, ‘I bet this driver isn’t from around here...’”

Minutes later, the State Farm agent watched in horror as the SUV spiraled off the road and out of sight. “I thought they rolled it,” said Glenn. “I immediately pulled over and ran to the scene.”

A Close Call

Peering over the embankment, Glenn saw the vehicle had skidded to a halt. “I ran down and helped the family out of their SUV,” he said. “Thankfully everyone was okay - but the vehicle wasn’t. It had two flat tires, and there was no way to get it out of that hole.”

Glenn dialed roadside assistance, and helped the family with their claim. "The hardest part was explaining where we were,” he said. “We were on the outskirts of town and not many cars pass this way. It took about three hours for the wrecker to arrive."

"I'm so glad Glenn was there," said Ellen. "It was freezing, and Grandpa and I would have been all by ourselves. Not to mention my dog Annie was scared to death.”

As the sun began to set – Glenn waited with the family, inviting them to hunker down in his truck until help arrived. Over hot coffee and conversation, the group talked, reminisced and even shared a few laughs.

“It’s a real nice thing he did,” said Bill. “When you’re facing a frigid situation alone – it means so much when someone stops to lend a hand.”

“Bill was great,” added Glenn. “After 80 plus years, he has terrific stories.  I wish we lived closer.”

Later that afternoon the tow-truck arrived. Glenn and the family exchanged information, wished each other well and parted ways.

“I never expected my Saturday to go like that,” said Glenn. “And you know what? It was 100 percent worth it to help this family.”

A Time to Reflect

In hindsight, Bill says there’s much to be thankful for on that fateful day. He and his family were not hurt, their SUV would get repaired, and he was also reminded of this age-old lesson:

A random act of kindness goes a long way.

“What are the chances it would be Glenn who stopped?” Bill smiled. “He was knowledgeable, accommodating and above all else, this stranger – is now a friend.”

“I’m here to help,” added Glenn. “And I’m happy to do it. Pay it forward for others – and let the cycle of kindness continue.”

Click on the + in the interactive image below for more on the impact of "random acts of kindness."

Want to ensure a family life filled with all the good stuff - adventure, security and love? Gather your loved ones together and pick up a pen.

Here’s a time-honored way to get things done: sit down, write down everything you need to accomplish, then cross items off as you go. A list is a great way to manage the little stuff. But what about the big stuff? Forget about making your dentist appointment or getting the car serviced - what about traveling to Europe, adopting a child, buying a second home? After all, someday when you look back on your life, you won’t be thinking about your forgotten hair appointment. You’ll want to be sure that you accomplished the things that help shape who you are - not just as a person but as a family.

Enter the family bucket list - a list of things you want to make sure get done before it’s too late. It’s like your life’s to-do list, but it’s not just yours, it’s your family’s. And it’s not about getting through the day; it’s about prioritizing your life for years to come. The benefits go beyond planning for tomorrow though; when a family comes together as a unit to pinpoint what’s important, dreams converge, and intimacy builds. We talked to three families who used bucket lists to map out their family’s shared future - and to foster closeness in the here and now.

The Krupickas: Kayak at the Dunes

A couple years ago, Lara Krupicka of Chicago discovered that her then 12-year-old daughter had a natural talent. “She’d had a good first season in track, and people were like, “Wait, she did that well in her basketball shoes?” Lara laughs. “So we bought her track spikes as a Christmas gift.” A few months later, Lara’s daughter announced a goal - she wanted to break the high school track record. Then, lo and behold, she did it - while still in junior high.

Lara is understandably proud of her daughter’s achievements, but she doesn’t see them happening by accident, or in a vacuum. “To see her achieve her goal wasn’t just meaningful to her; it was meaningful to us,” she explains. “It struck me that in our family there was an amazing dynamic happening when one of us went after something particularly important, I saw how some of our goals would stretch across our family and realized we need to embrace that."

So Lara and her family sat down and began brainstorming - what did they want as individuals? What did they want as a family? And where did these hopes and dreams overlap? Lara says articulating hopes and dreams wasn’t new for her family, but the exercise of writing them down was.

“Last fall was the first time we got this in writing, but using that language and seizing those opportunities - I can’t even pinpoint where that started,” she says. The magic was in the intention - the sense of pride that came with identifying a goal and accomplishing it rather than simply hoping that something would happen.

Thus inspired, Lara didn’t stop there. From her family bucket lists she developed a family bucket list manifesto, with calls for the reader to “Savor the anticipation of a goal,” “Plan to amaze yourself,” and crucially, “Be spontaneous, but plan often.” Out of this grew her book Family Bucket Lists: Bring More Fun, Adventure & Camaraderie into Every Day.

Despite the emphasis on family, Lara advises people to write their own individual lists prior to coming together as a group. “Start your own list first, and have your kids get their bucket list going. There’s a synergy that happens,” she explains. “The family list grows out of that.”

Lara points out that as they cross things off their list, the kids naturally become more engaged. “It’s a push-pull. Writing down our goals allows my husband and I to focus on some deficits with our kids-and our kids learn that we’re serious about it!” One of the items on their list was to go kayaking at Sleeping Bear Dunes-which they made happen last summer. “The more adventures we do, the more we expose them to, the more they’ve grown to embrace it.”

The Thomsens: Travel to Europe

When Kathy Thomsen first married her husband, Jim, they lived in a tiny apartment with no furniture. They’d pull out their jar of loose change, count in the middle of their floor, and that would tell them what they could afford to do that weekend. To say they were cash poor may be an understatement. But they were rich in dreams, which is why they began their own bucket list very early on - on and old-school yellow notepad.

“We wrote it while were expecting our first child,” Kathy recalls. “Jim has heard about this idea of writing down 101 lifetime goals. We both liked the concept of making a list. Where are we going from here? What do we want our family, our life, to look like? The idea was that if you’re intentional about writing things down, you’re more likely to see where it will take you.”

Now Kathy and Jim have been married more than a quarter century, and on their 25th wedding anniversary they decided it would be fun to pull out that old list. “It’s funny. Some entries were big like travel to Europe. But some of them were ‘Buy a crib’!” The list was almost like a time capsule, giving a rare window into the concerns that held sway so long ago.

“What was cool was that while we wrote things like, ‘I want to learn how to sail’ or ‘I want to go to these countries someday,’ we also came up with things like ‘I want to paint the nursery.’ Those might seem silly, but they were important - we needed to prepare for the family.”

Some of their entries felt pie-in-the-sky at the time. “We wrote things like, have a four-bedroom home, travel to several countries, spend time in the mountains, have a second home,” Kathy recalls. “We even put down, ‘Have a grand piano,’ well, we have one now!” But they also donate money to their college and church and give generously to benefit others. “Each year we decide ahead of time which organizations we want to give to so we can plan for it.”

They also managed to make it to their travel destination, purchase a second home in the mountains, and live in a large home they built themselves. This was all possible, Kathy says, because peppered among the fantasies on that first list were some nitty-gritty financial goals too.

“Jim made sure to include, ‘Have x amount of money in the bank,”’ she points out. “When we think back to those first few years, when we had so little-just the two of us in this tiny apartment - compared with these last few years, we live a very nice lifestyle now that we never imagined back then.” But because they sat down to write their bucket list, they did imagine it. Now that they’ve achieved it they find themselves looking ahead to the next 25 years. “We still want to be intentional about challenging ourselves and doing stimulating things, but accumulating things is not as important anymore,” Kathy reflects. “Being financially stable is always important, of course, but now, as our kids get ready for college, we’re talking about downsizing. We built this house six years ago, and it’s enormous. Now we’re thinking maybe we can sell this and live somewhere else! We’re more interested in freedom.

What is on your family bucket list? Sending kids to college? Traveling somewhere new each year? Saving for retirement? Make the most of every life experience and those memories that last a lifetime and build a lasting legacy.

Related: The Family Bucket List Infographic

Financial Wellness Tips for a Positive Financial Future - State Farm®