Page 16 - BusinessWest August 8, 2022

60-mile loop twice, with an additional loop, total- ing 30 miles, tacked on.
As he said, it’s a work in progress when it comes to planning the ride, choosing a beneficia- ry, and filling in other details. And this ride will, as noted, will be a capstone — along with a formal gala in September to be attended by employees, board members, and plus-ones (total guest list of ... you guessed it, 150) — to what has been a full year of activities marking the bank’s milestone.
Recapping them, Caitlin O’Connor, vice presi- dent and Marketing officer, said there has been
“We had very big ideas, and
I’m happy to say that we made most of them happen — and very successfully.”
a wide variety of events and programs, from the burying of a time capsule to the commissioning of a painting of the bank’s first president, Charles Merrick; from a traveling historical display featur- ing antique currency to monthly $150 cash prizes; from the placing of a marker where the original bank building stood at the corner of Main and State streets in Monson to several build-a-bike initiatives, whereby bank employees have assem- bled and donated $15,000 worth of bicycles to several nonprofits in the area, including I Found Light Against All Odds, Educare Springfield, and the South End Community Center.
“We had a ‘Cheers to 150 Years’ event starting on March 19 to really kick things off; that’s was an employee event and the starting point,” O’Connor
told BusinessWest. “And from then on, it just grew and took on a life of its own. We had very big ideas, and I’m happy to say that we made most of them happen — and very successfully.”
Collectively, these events and pro- grams have punctuated the bank’s place in the community — literally, as with the marker placed at the original bank location, but also figu- ratively, as a community bank that is very much involved in the cities and towns where it has locations, and the region as a whole, Rouette noted, adding that the 150th anniversary has been a great vehicle for making introductions, forging new relation- ships, and reinforcing existing ones.
“What a great way to walk into a nonprofit that you’re hoping to bring into the bank or a com- mercial or residential customer,” he said of the celebration and everything that it conveys about the bank, its history, its stability, and a future that will look very much like the present and the past.
“It’s an opportunity to give them your story — who you are, what you’re about, and your overall legacy,” he went on. “People want to do business with people that have been around, that are part of the community — not just here today and gone tomorrow, but institutions that are truly the cor- nerstone, the bedrock of the area.”
The Ride Stuff
That word ‘area’ has taken on new meaning for MSB since its last major anniversary — its 100th, in 1972 — and especially since 1998.
Monson Savings Bank has retained its original name and home city for 150 years, a rarity in the banking world.
It was during that year that the bank opened its first location outside of Monson, a branch in Hampden. Five years later, a third branch was opened in Wilbraham, and new locations were added in Ware in 2103 and East Longmeadow in 2020. During that same memorable year, MSB’s Loan and Operations Center moved to a state-of- the-art facility in Wilbraham.
With these moves, the bank is now serving a much broader area and becoming more involved in the region’s unofficial capital, Springfield, and serving a broader demographic mix of commer- cial and residential customers, said Dina Merwin, senior vice president and chief risk and senior compliance officer for the bank.
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16 AUGUST 8, 2022
BANKING & FINANCE
BusinessWest