Banking New England 2020 Issue 3

BANKING ISSUE THREE 2020

NEW ENGLAND T H E R ES O U R C E F O R N E W E N G L A N D ’S F I N A N C I A L L E A D E R S

COMMUNITY

HEROES Bankers Feeding The Hungry, Helping Four-legged Friends And More ...

A PUBLICATION OF AMERICAN BUSINESS MEDIA

Ion Bank in Meriden, CT

Mutual Security Credit Union in Norwalk, CT

Wakefield Co-operative Bank in Wakefield, MA

BUILDING A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR BANKING TODAY BANK DESIGN ARCHITECTURE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

PAGE

CO NT E NTS

10

COVER STORY: THE Best!

4 Letter from the Publisher

6 Branches What’s coming after COVID-19

8 On the Move Local professionals making their mark in New England Banking

>> visit us online

bankingnewengland.com

10 Awards

Recognizing the best community service projects among New England banks and credit unions.

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At Banking New England, we recognize the impact women are having on the banking industry. We want to shine a light on the many trailblazers who are leading the way for others in this once-male dominated area. To do this, we need you to tell us: who are the women making significant contributions in our industry?

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Issue Three | July 2020 | BANKING NEW ENGLAND 3

LE T T E R F RO M T H E P U B LIS H ER

We’re On Banking’s Battleground

B

y the time you read this, the world will likely have changed again.

The COVID-19 pandemic has blown a shotgun blast of buckshot through the economy.

Shuttered businesses whose financials were solid may never re-open. Business bankruptcies and loan defaults are sure to soar. Individuals who’ve lost their employment won’t be saving for retirement, or saving at all – or paying their credit card bills and mortgage loans.

Standing at the financial forefront, trying to make decisions on how to help their communities while not endangering their institutions, are VINCE VA LVO community banks and credit unions. But they are businesses, too. Which means they’re also grappling with how to safely re-open their lobbies, meet with customers, provide access consumers and companies need, while keeping their own employees and workspaces safe.

Concurrently, banking industry leaders have suddenly faced the social calls for racial justice that have sounded across the nation. Pivoting one day from protecting branches from looting and destruction to proclaiming solidarity with the precept that everyone in this country should be judged equally, bank and CU executives have had to take a look at not just what they can do to show that commitment, but look back at systemic bias that may have been a contributor to the need for protest.

HEROES RISE While the general populace loves to make banks the villains of any piece, the reality is that credit unions and community banks only prosper when their communities thrive. That’s why, for example, so many small businesses were able to access Payroll Protection Program loans through community banks when the systems are much large institutions failed them.

CUs and community banks are standing on the battleground of our nation’s rebound. They are finding ways to stand with those who demand social justice, support those who are fighting for economic emergence, and be the centers of capital that their communities need to regain prosperity.

A decade ago, banking faced one of its darkest moments. Now, it gets to be a light that helps others out of their despair. It’s a challenge, testing the ingenuity and resolve of community bankers. But if there was ever a time we needed community bank heroes, it’s now.

VIN CEN T M. VALVO

Publisher & CEO

4 BANKING NEW ENGLAND | Issue Three | July 2020

STAFF

CEO, PUBLISHER & EDITOR Vincent M. Valvo ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Beverly Bolnick MANAGING EDITOR Keith Griffin GRAPHIC DESIGN MANAGER Stacy Murray USER EXPERIENCE DESIGNER Billy Valvo INTERACTIVE DESIGN DIRECTOR Alison Valvo ONLINE CONTENT DIRECTOR Navindra Persaud MARKETING & EVENT ASSOCIATE Melissa Pianin EDITORIAL Eric C. Peck ENGAGEMENT AND OUTREACH Andrew Berman CLIENT SUCCESS COORDINATOR Jaclyn Leitermann

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Issue Three | July 2020 | BANKING NEW ENGLAND 5

BR ANC H E S

What The Future Holds For Banking After COVID-19

T

It Could Be A Mixture Of Old and New Practices

BY G EO RG E YACI K, S PEC I A L TO B A NK I NG NEW E NGL A ND

he coronavirus pandemic has upended the banking business much more so than the 2008 financial crisis. While banks may be in a better financial condition to weather this storm, the current crisis has had a more profound effect on how they operate and how their customers use their services: thousands of branch and call center employees are working from home. Branches are open only during limited operating hours or by appointment, forcing customers to bank online or through their phones.

What are the long-term ramifications from the virus on the banking business? Will banking return to normal after the virus runs its course, or will many of these changes remain permanent fixtures?

The answers appear to lie in digital banking, more customer engagement, remote work, and maybe most surprisingly, drive-thrus.

Digital Banking Top Trend What does seem to be the case is that several trends that were already ongoing and expected to play out over the next several years have been accelerated over just the past few months, with digital banking being number one.

“People who knew about digital services but never took the time to learn are all learning now,” says Barry R. Sloane, chairman, president and CEO of Century Bank in Medford Mass., which describes itself as New England’s largest family-run bank, with 27 full-service branches. “There has been a gigantic leap forward in the digitization in our industry. It will never look the same again.”

“Our annual report for last year came out recently and the cover was on the digital transformation of banking,” he says. “We said it would be a thoughtful, organized, incremental process. Now all of us have been dumped in the digital pool.”

“Clearly this almost forced movement of customers out of branches is going to cause a good number of them to be happy with digital channels, and stay on them,” agrees Terence Roche, a partner at Cornerstone Advisors in Scottsdale, Arizona. “People are beginning to be much more comfortable doing servicing transactions like

6 BANKING NEW ENGLAND | Issue Three | July 2020

remote check deposit and external transfers, and I think they’re slowly becoming more comfortable opening a new account online.”

IS VIDEO BANKING NEXT? “Clearly one thing banks are going to have to talk about is what this does to branch traffic,” he adds. “We have had an event that has forced customers out of branches.

I think over the long-term this behavior would have happened anyway – it’s just going to happen a lot faster.

What was probably going to happen over three years has been compressed into three months.”

James Robert Lay, founder and CEO of the Digital Growth Institute in Houston, agrees that people have been forced into using mobile banking. “But does that mean the mobile app is the be-all and end-all? No,” he says. “People will still have questions. People still want to do business with people. If I was a community bank, I would be figuring out how to use a video communication platform to schedule appointments remotely, so if people want to talk to a banker face to face they can do that. You could remove the fear of a digital-only platform.”

Indeed, according to Rutger van Faassen, vice president of consumer lending at Informa Financial Intelligence, while more banking services have moved online because of the virus, that doesn’t mean it will be all digital or nothing.

“The current situation is forcing customer segments that prefer to engage with bank through a branch channel to use other channels, like phone, web, mobile, and chat. Once we get through this crisis the key question is if those people will change their preference after their experience with these other channels,” he says.

HOW TO ENGAGE “It also forces employees at financial institutions to think through how to engage and communicate with customers and colleagues through virtual channels and get comfortable with this way of engaging. On the other hand, it also shows us how important in-person

communication is and how not everything can be replaced with remote communications. This crisis is showing how important it is to have multiple options, including digital ones,” said van Faassen.

“I think video conferencing could grow because we’re getting so comfortable with it,” Roche said. “But the question for me is, to whatever extent I do video conferencing, I don’t have to do that with a branch employee. I can do that with a bank employee who is anywhere.”

REMOTE WORKING That opens two big cans of worms: Permanent remote work and the future of the bank branch.

“Banking has traditionally been viewed as a business that would not accommodate remote work models due to

the various regulatory constraints that define how things operate,” notes Michael Carter, executive vice president at Strategic Resource Management in Memphis. “However, it would seem that there is a considerable part of bank and credit union operations that can utilize a remote work model.

“Given the occupancy costs associated with commercial real estate, remote work, specifically working from home, may become particularly attractive to organizations across most verticals, including banking. For banking, this shift would have implications for branch density, further accelerating the elimination of branches.”

“We are going to see some permanent move to remote employees who were not remote before,” Roche says.

“Working from home was something that was coming to banking anyway, but I think it’s really going to accelerate now. I can’t imagine those employees who are working from home now are going to want to go back to the office, at least a couple of days a week.

I think what you might see is some kind of grand compromise with a lot of employees about working from home a few days a week.”

“Why would people want to come back to the office if they don’t have to?” Lay adds. “We’re not just changing consumer behavior, we’re changing worker behavior. That’s a really hard conversation to have at the management level.”

OLD-FASHION BANKING Ironically, while the virus has pushed more customers into digital banking, it has also made old-fashioned banking methods fashionable – if not critical – again.

Century Bank, for example, had to close half of its branches and rely solely on those that had drivethrus, Sloan says.

“The lowly drive-thru that many in the banking business had given up on has become the principal mechanism to conduct branch banking,” he says.

“We have actually closed mortgage loans through the drive-thru drawer. It was kind of a laugh the first few times but now it’s become standard procedure and it works for both sides.”

“I think the companies that sold drive-thrus were going into decline, but I suspect they are going to be back-ordered now,” he adds. “In many cases the drive-thrus had been removed and replaced with a drive-thru ATM. I suspect now they’ll be putting the window back.”

The crisis will also force banks to rethink their resiliency and redundancy plans compared to how they used to in the past, Sloane says.

“We always prepared for hurricanes, floods, fires and anthrax, but nobody really ever thought that you wouldn’t have any people,” he says. “This is an outside-the-box set of problems that we have to address on one level or another. The shutdown of the restaurant, travel and hotel industries all at once was extraordinarily difficult to predict. Certainly, our risk management thinking has to move well beyond how high housing prices are.”

Issue Three | July 2020 | BANKING NEW ENGLAND 7

O N THE MOVE

TRY TO KEEP UP

LOCAL PROFESSIONALS MAKING THEIR MARK IN NEW ENGLAND BANKING Savers Bank Announces Promotion Of Kerri Gonzalez

Savers Bank, in Southbridge, Massachusetts, promoted Kerri Gonzalez to the position of senior VP, operations & eServices. She had been the bank’s vice president, deposit operations and eServices.

Kerri Gonzalez Gonzalez is responsible for the oversight and development of the bank’s core banking platforms, payments/fintech initiatives and all electronic and deposit functions. She joined Savers Bank from Dean Bank in September of 2017 with over 24 years of banking experience.

Gonzalez has a B.A. from Stonehill College, an MBA from Florida International University and she’s an accredited ACH professional.

Little Joins North Easton Savings Bank as SVP, Chief Credit Officer

North Easton Savings Bank, headquartered in South Easton, Massachusetts, announces the appointment of Paul R. Little as senior vice president, chief credit officer. In Paul R. Little this role, Little oversees commercial credit and collection policies, procedures, and processes to measure and manage inherent risks in the Bank’s loan portfolio.

Little joins North Easton Savings Bank with 37 years of experience in the banking and commercial real estate industries, most recently as senior vice president, chief credit officer with the Savings Institute Bank & Trust Company/Berkshire Bank in Willimantic, Connecticut.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from New England College and is a graduate of the American Community Bankers Senior Leadership Institute. He is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Society of Real Estate Appraisers.

Kaslauskas Promoted To SVP Investments

Veteran banker Peter J. Kaslauskas was promoted from vice president, investments to senior vice president, investments at Savers Bank in Southbridge, Massachusetts.

Kaslauskas joined Savers Bank in 2001 as an investment

8 BANKING NEW ENGLAND | Issue Three | July 2020

Peter J. Kaslauskas

executive after having worked over nine years in other financial institutions such as, Citizens Financial and New York Life Insurance Company. Kaslauskas has a B.S. in Economics from Brandeis University.

Most recently Kaslauskas was awarded membership to the LPL Directors club for his performance in 2019; this recognizes Kaslauskas as part of an elite group of the industry’s finest.

Normant joins Leominster CU As SVP, CFO

Leominster Credit Union in Leominster, Massachusetts, announced Joseph J. Normant has joined its team as senior vice president, chief financial officer. Normant will oversee the credit union’s finance department including Joseph J. Normant accounting and treasury as well as audit and compliance. Normant will report to John O’Brien, president and CEO, and will participate as a member of the senior management team.

In his new role, Normant brings a results-driven background with a collaborative team-building approach and excels in financial operations and reporting, expense control, operational efficiencies, and data management. Prior to joining LCU, Normant was the CFO at Main Street Bank in Marlborough.

Serafin Joins Savers Bank As CIO, SVP

Savers Bank in Southbridge, Massachusetts, hired Daniel J. Serafin, Sr. as senior vice president, chief information officer. He joined the bank in March.

Serafin is an accomplished handsDaniel J. Serafin on technologist with over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry. His most recent position was as SVP, CIO at Avidia Bank in Hudson, Massachusetts.

Serafin has a B.S. in information technology from University of Massachusetts-Lowell and holds professional certifications in CISSP, is ITIL foundation certified and is a certified network engineer.

Cuddy Joins Clinton Savings For Mortgage Originations

Clinton Savings Bank announced the addition of Elisa Cuddy as assistant vice president, mortgage originations. Her career spans over 20 years of banking experience and she is an accomplished originator with a wide range of mortgage product knowledge.

Elisa Cuddy “Ms. Cuddy demonstrates exemplary service by educating clients about the mortgage products and the home loan process,” said Deb Colonna, vice president, retail lending officer. “She believes sharing her knowledge and taking the time to listen to their needs and wants is the key to her customers enjoying a stress-free mortgage.”

Cuddy holds an associates degree from Mount Wachusett Community College and is a graduate of the North Central Mass. Chamber of Commerce Leadership Committee. She was recognized by The Banker and Tradesman in 2017 for being the number three producer of mortgage loans in Worcester County.

Savers Bank Names Stratton VP, CFO & Treasurer

Vanessa Stratton now holds the title of vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer at Savers Bank in Southbridge, Massachusetts. A CPA, Stratton joined the bank in November 2017.

Before her promotion, she was vice president treasurer and controller.

Vanessa Stratton As CFO and treasurer, Stratton is responsible for coordinating and directing the financial, fiscal and related activities of the bank. Vanessa came to Savers Bank with years of banking experience and is currently pursuing her Master’s in business administration following the finance track.

The Savings Bank Hires Karen M. Benedetti As Marketing VP

Karen M. Benedetti recently joined The Savings Bank, based in Wakefield, Massachusetts, as vice president of marketing.

Benedetti brings more than 30 years of marketing leadership experience from financial institutions in New Karen M. Benedetti England and the Mid-Atlantic, including multi-national banks, regional banks, community banks and credit unions. Her background includes brand messaging, managing digital marketing and social media, leveraging strategic sponsorships, marketing new product lines, and serving as an organization spokesperson and liaison to the community.

She had previously worked in marketing roles for Penn Community Bank, Optima Bank & Trust, and Service Credit Union, according to her LinkedIn profile.

In her new role, Benedetti will oversee all marketing activities at The Savings Bank. She will plan and direct corporate branding and marketing strategy, digital and traditional marketing, CRM, sponsorships, communications and public relations.

Benedetti received a BA in economics from the State University of New York College at Cortland and an MBA in finance and information systems from Pace University.

Levante Joins NBT Bank

Matthew Durkee, NBT Bank’s New England region president, announced Gregg Levante joined the bank as commercial banking relationship manager for the Berkshire County and Southern Vermont regions. Levante is based at NBT Bank’s Pittsfield Financial Center in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Gregg Levante Levante brings over 10 years of commercial banking experience to our team and comes to NBT from Berkshire Bank. He has extensive experience in managing commercial banking customer relationships.

Levante earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting/finance from Franklin Pierce University and an MBA from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Gray Named Officer At UniBank

Shannen Gray, cash management relationship manager, was promoted to an officer of UniBank in Worcester, Massachusetts. UniBank’s CEO Michael Welch said it was as a result of her leadership and professionalism leading the commercial team’s focus on deposit and treasury services.

Shannen Gray A 10-year banking veteran, Gray holds a bachelor’s degree from New England Banking College.

Kelley Named Head Of Commercial Real Estate At UniBank

John Kelley was named director of commercial real estate banking at UniBank, expanding his role to develop and implement the bank’s real estate strategy. Kelley’s years of real estate experience will help position the bank John Kelley in a position to deliver for its client and customers throughout New England.

Kelley has spent his banking career focused on real estate transaction and is considered an expert in the marketplace.

Kelley holds both a BBA in Finance and Banking from American International College. He has been with UniBank since March 2019.

Mandella Promoted At UniBank

Todd Mandella expands his role at UniBank in Worcester, Massachusetts, being named director of C&I Lending.

Mandella will play an integral part in driving the bank’s strategy and growth initiatives for commercial and industrial companies across the region.

Mandella is a seasoned banker with Todd Mandella over 18 years of experience and will continue to focus on commercial market growth and relationship management. He holds both a Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Arts degree in Economics from Trinity College in Connecticut. He was named to the Worcester Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list for the Class of 2012.

Issue Three | July 2020 | BANKING NEW ENGLAND 9

AWA R D S

Banks And Credit Unions Honored With Community Heroes Awards Annual Banking New England Program Recognizes Outstanding Philanthropy Banking New England selected 20 community banks and credit unions from across New England to honor as Credit Union Heroes and Community Bank Heroes for their creation of unique community partnerships and going beyond the call to aid their communities in a special time of need.

Credit unions and community banks were chosen in categories based on their asset sizes: less than $500 million, $500 million to $1.5 billion, and more than $1.5 billion. One overall winner was selected among banks and one among credit unions in New England.

OVERALL BANK WINNER

Cambridge Savings Bank Financial Education Program Since launching its Financial Education Program in 2010, Cambridge Savings Bank has remained dedicated to contributing to the financial wellness of families and individuals who live in all the communities that it serves. During this decade, it has developed engaging, interactive workshops and lessons and presented live sessions to more than 29,000 participants. This number underscores the broad scope of the bank’s financial education efforts.

Participants span students at the kindergarten and other elementary school grades, high school level, and adults of all ages including seniors.

10 BANKING NEW ENGLAND | Issue Three | July 2020

OVERALL CREDIT UNION WINNER

BANKS OVER $1.5 BILLION

Metro Credit Union Still She Rises Still She Rises, a celebration of life of Ersilia Cataldo Matarazzo, raised over $55,000 from a gala event attended by over 250 to benefit local domestic violence prevention organizations. The event coincided with the beginning of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The proceeds benefited HarborCOV, Portal to Hope, and the Ersilia Cataldo Matarazzo Fund by Kiwanis. Ersilia Cataldo Matarazzo was a beloved member of the community and 20-year employee of Metro Credit Union in Chelsea, Massachusetts, whose life was tragically cut short as a result of domestic violence in December 2018.

Union Savings Bank The Teachers’ Closet Imagine a child at school trying to write without a pencil, color without crayons, or create without the tools to put their creations on paper. This unfortunately, is the reality that many of our local children live in today. Moved by this, along with the fact that teachers, on average, spend $500$1,000 out of their pocket each year to provide basic supplies to students, Union Savings created the Teachers’ Closet. Over 13,000 items have been distributed to three elementary schools since the program kicked off in October 2016.

GOLD AWARD

SILVER AWARD

CREDIT UNIONS OVER $1.5 BILLION

GOLD AWARD

promote independence while ensuring that basic needs are met regardless of ability to pay.

BRONZE AWARD Bankwell Pet Adoption Project As part of an ongoing effort to provide value to the community, Bankwell’s Pet Adoption Project creates awareness about the many pets in need of homes at animal shelters throughout Fairfield and New Haven counties. This is the fourth year for the program, which features photos and information about available dogs and cats on billboards, ads, social media, the bank’s website, and throughout all the branches. Since the Spring of 2017, more than 90% of the 96 featured animals have been adopted.

BRONZE AWARD

Avidia Bank Assists for Kids In partnership with the Boston Bruins’ Brad Marchand, 98.5 The Sports Hub and MetroWest Youth Hockey, Avidia providde the necessary safety equipment and additional funding to support youth hockey. For every assist on goal this season that Brad Marchand and his Boston teammates made, Avidia Bank donated $25 in support of MetroWest Youth Hockey Programs.

The money raised will help from 150 children in MetroWest Youth Hockey with Warrior helmets, mouthguards and $150 to a youth savings account to help pay for hockey.

Digital Federal Credit Union DCU For Kids Since 1996, Digital Federal Credit Union, known as DCU, has provided a scholarship program designed to assist students in pursuit of a higher education with over $900,000 in scholarships being awarded.

In 2019, DCU for Kids, the credit union’s charitable foundation, distributed 90 scholarships totaling $165,000 to graduating high school seniors. Funds were distributed through DCU for Kids, the credit union’s charitable foundation. Recipients were chosen based on scholastic achievement, community involvement, leadership skills, character and integrity, recommendation letters, as well as an essay submitted by the student.

SILVER AWARD

Navigant Federal Credit Union Project Playhouse Navigant Credit Union joined Bryant University and Rosemary’s Wish Kids in April 2019 to unveil three custom-built playhouses as part of the organizations’ annual Project Playhouse initiative.

Through Project Playhouse, a team of Bryant University students work with local vocational schools, corporate sponsors and nonprofit organizations to fund, design, construct and install state-of-theart playhouses to be donated to local families in need. Navigant provided Project Playhouse with a two-year, $15,000 donation to give the initiative the financial security to continue its operations for years to come.

BANKS $500 MILLION TO $1 BILLION

GOLD AWARD American Eagle Financial Credit Union Jeans For Fridays American Eagle Financial Credit Union employees collectively donated $5,816 to Hockanum Valley Community Council of Vernon for “Jeans Fridays.” By making a weekly donation through payroll deduction, employees can wear jeans to work each Friday.

The council was selected as the charity of choice for OctoberDecember 2019 by employees on the credit union’s “Eagle Team.”

It provides services including meals, transportation, counseling, and education to individuals and families in a manner which will

Franklin Savings Bank Franklin Revitalization - The Rebirth of a City A vision for a revitalized, vibrant city was conceived by Todd Workman, a private citizen and FSB Corporator, who realized he would need to have a portfolio of buildings in downtown Franklin that could be used to initiate the transformation.

Despite the challenges, FSB made the loan acknowledging it was an investment in the City it has called home for over 150 years. At the loan closing, FSB made a $30,000 Issue Three | July 2020 | BANKING NEW ENGLAND 11

donation to help cover the costs associated with the transaction to replenish working capital.

CREDIT UNIONS $500 MILLION TO $1 BILLION

BRONZE AWARD

GOLD AWARD

SILVER AWARD

Windsor Federal High School Banking Program The Windsor Federal High School Banking Program is now in its ninth year of bringing financial literacy to high school students and their families, as well as career readiness skills, in underserved and economically disadvantaged communities. Since the program’s inception in 2011, 83 students have completed the program with 22 hired by Windsor Federal for seasonal, part-time, or full-time positions and 85% have gone on to college. Some are the first to have “white collar” jobs and are helping to support their families with their income.

SeaComm Federal Credit Union American Cancer Society Hope Lodge SeaComm Federal Credit Union presented a check for $50,000 to support the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge program in Burlington, Vermont. For some cancer patients, the best treatment is far from home. For many patients living in the North Country, that treatment is in Burlington, and the Hope Lodge program makes it an affordable option by providing a free place for cancer patients and their caregiver to stay, in a supportive environment. Each year, the Hope Lodge in Burlington provides nearly 5,000 free nights of lodging.

SILVER AWARD

Sikorsky Credit Union Imagination Library Sikorsky Credit Union donated $5,000 to the Stratford, Connecticut chapter of Imagination Library, a book gifting program that provides free books to children from birth until they begin school. The Imagination Library was started in 1995 by singer Dolly Parton to provide free, high-quality books to young children. Since this program started, over 100 million books have been given to children around the world. The Imagination Library in Stratford will ensure that over 1,600 children under age five will receive one age appropriate book per month.

BANKS UNDER $500 MILLION

GOLD AWARD

BRONZE AWARD

Thomaston Savings Bank Act to Impact Employee Giving Campaign The Thomaston Savings Bank Foundation once again implemented its Act to Impact Employee Giving Campaign. This initiative was developed to allow employees to give back to the communities the bank serves by deciding how to distribute $30,000 in foundation grants, which had a focus on basic human needs and community. The employees were divided into 20 teams giving each team the opportunity to award a $1,500 onetime grant to 20 area non-profits. Grants were presented to groups working on homeless, education, and feeding the hungry among others.

12 BANKING NEW ENGLAND | Issue Three | July 2020

New England Federal Credit Union Committee on Temporary Shelter New England Federal Credit Union made a number of donations to community organizations to round out its 2019 community giving initiatives. Its largest was $20,000 to the Committee on Temporary Shelter. Founded in 1982, COTS provides emergency shelter for families and individuals; family and adult services; prevention and rehousing assistance; and transitional and permanent housing services. A $10,000 donation was also made to Community Health Centers of Burlington for its health care to people of all ages, backgrounds, and life circumstances, including primary and preventive health care.

Litchfield Bank Cash Mob As part of Litchfield Bank’s “Locally Owned, Locally Grown” campaign to help support local businesses and the communities in which it serves, the bank launched its Cash Mobs in 2018. A Cash Mob is a community event that people use to join together and support local businesses. The goal of Cash Mobs is to boost sales for small businesses and turn an average day into a fantastic day. Employees are given $20 to spend at a locallyowned business and then sent out on a designated day to support the merchant.

B Y G E O RG E YAC IK, S P E C I AL TO B A N K I N G MI D AT L A N T I C

SILVER AWARD

BRONZE AWARD

CREDIT UNIONS UNDER $500 MILLION

GOLD

Milford Bank Milford Moves 5K The 5th Annual Milford Moves 5k raised over $20,000 to benefit local programs for the American Legion Post 196, the VFW Post 7788, the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 15 and the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 25.

This family-friendly event is a fundraiser honoring local veterans.

Over 350 people registered for the run/walk ranging in ages from 12 to 80. The 2020 race had to be cancelled but the bank plans to sponsor it again in 2021.

Middlesex Savings Bank Funds For First Responders In 2020, Middlesex Savings Bank announced it would donate $520,000 to first responders in over 26 communities. Mike McAuliffe, president and CEO of Middlesex Savings Bank, stated, “Middlesex Savings Bank’s gift to our local first responders is given as a gesture of gratitude and recognition for all that they do to keep our communities safe. As a 185-year old community bank, supporting the organizations that care for our customers and neighbors is a vital part of our heritage.”

Atlantic Federal Credit Union Atlantic’s Ending Hunger Campaign For every run scored by the Portland Sea Dogs in 2019, Atlantic donated $10 to the Maine Credit Union League Campaign to End Hunger. Additional funding raising events increased the total to more than $71,000. Donations were made to benefit local hunger organizations such as the Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program, Tedford Housing, Freeport

WindsorFederal.com

Issue Three | July 2020 | BANKING NEW ENGLAND 13

Community Services, the Town of Cumberland (Food Pantry), Saco Food Pantry, Sanford Food Pantry, York Community Services, Massabesic High School Nutritional Program and other food programs.

The credit union was a supporter of over 100 local organizations and events by giving $165,915 of sponsorships.

SILVER AWARD

industrial-sized washer extractor.

This innovative machine reduces the amount of carcinogens in turnout gear without damaging the equipment. Stephen Burkott, former Chicopee fire chief and Polish National Credit Union board chairman, noted that “this is a wonderful investment that will have long-term effects. Making sure our firefighters are safe is of utmost importance, and with the help of this machine, we’re one step closer.”

BRONZE AWARD The Polish National Credit Union Chicopee Fire Department Polish National Credit Union in Chicopee, Massachusetts, made a $10,000 donation to the Chicopee Fire Department. The donation will be used to purchase an

Caring Campaign donated over $20,000 to local non-profit organizations on behalf of its members. For the first time, the credit union, based in Rochester, New Hampshire, opened the process up to their membership, allowing members to nominate organizations that they felt deserved to be recognized and supported. This resulted in 10 organizations who were not part of the Christmas Caring Campaign in 2018 receiving donations this season. Of the 27 non-profits who received donations, most focused on homelessness, meal services, youth support and addiction recovery.

Holy Rosary Credit Union Christmas Caring Campaign In 2019, the Holy Rosary Credit Union’s 6th-Annual Christmas

UPDATED

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14 BANKING NEW ENGLAND | Issue Three | July 2020

CSI KNOWS THE SKY IS THE LIMIT. With so much fintech to choose from, you need a partner your bank higher, further, faster.

Our core platform uses advanced APIs to help you reach your full potential. www.csiweb.com/readytosoar

Issue Three | July 2020 | BANKING NEW ENGLAND 15

Ion Bank in Meriden, CT

Mutual Security Credit Union in Norwalk, CT

Wakefield Co-operative Bank in Wakefield, MA

BUILDING A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR BANKING TODAY BANK DESIGN ARCHITECTURE PROJECT MANAGEMENT