Summer, 22, was going to be a first-time mom. Each month she would go into her insurance agent’s office to pay the premium on her car insurance, and during one of those visits her agent, Christie Trahan, asked her about getting life insurance coverage as well. Summer said she’d think about it, as she was a student living on her own, making it paycheck to paycheck as a waitress.

After asking her over the course of several months, Christie felt she needed to ask Summer one last time: “Are you sure you don’t want to buy that life insurance?” At $12 a month, Christie felt that this policy was affordable even for a working student and mom-to-be. Summer agreed, saying that she knew it was the right thing to do, even though her own mother had advised her to wait.

It’s fortunate that Summer bought that policy. Watch her story:

As you can see, a policy that costs just $12 a month can change lives—making the future brighter and better for a child or a family, despite the tragedy of a parent dying.

It’s stories like these—realLIFEstories—that help us all understand what insurance really does and why we need to take action now to get the insurance coverage we need to protect our loved ones financially. That’s why each year the LIFE Foundation asks insurance agents and advisors to submit stories of their own to the LIFE Foundation’s realLIFEstories Client Service Recognition Program, which demonstrate how the insurance they helped a family put in place made a difference in a time of need.

If you or your family have benefited from life, disability or long-term care insurance and you’d like to share your story with the American public, send this link along to your agent, as they will need to fill out the application: www.lifehappens.org/reallifestories-program-application. If you are an agent or advisor reading this blog, click on the above link and submit your story to the LIFE Foundation.

These stories change lives—Isn’t it time to be a part of that?