Monson Savings Bank Wins Gold Community Champions Award

MONSON — For the second year in a row, Monson Savings Bank has won the Gold Community Champions Award given by the New England Financial Marketing Assoc. (NEFMA). This year, the award was based on the bank’s extraordinary measures to improve and increase financial literacy throughout its communities.

While the award was given by NEFMA, in order to insure impartiality, the judging was done by members of the PennJerDel Bank Marketing Assoc. in Pennyslvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, so that there was no connection to any of the banks being reviewed. Efforts by banks and credit unions all over New England were considered.

According to Vincent Valvo, the organizer of the competition, “we received a record number of submissions, yet we gave out a more limited number of awards this year. That’s a clear reflection that judges held the submissions to a high bar and only rewarded the best of the best.” Monson Savings was the only winner in the financial-literacy category in which up to nine awards could have been given (gold, silver, and bronze for large, medium, and small banks).

“We were extremely pleased to receive this award,” said Steve Lowell, president of Monson Savings. “We have become increasingly concerned about financial literacy and the fact that many people lack the money-management knowledge and skills they need to ensure long-term stability for themselves. We’ve made this a strategic priority and are addressing the issue on many fronts, including teaching in the schools; holding complimentary workshops on important financial topics that are open to everyone in the community; partnering with MassSaves, a statewide effort to help people improve their financial knowledge and build wealth; and offering banking products and services specifically designed to help young people learn how to bank and save. Our people are working very hard at this, and I am so very proud of them.”