Page 29 - BusinessWest January 20, 2021
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 20
523,446
$329,328
256,727
“We’ve always focused on what we call the three H’s: hungry, hurt, homeless.”
751
-$1,090
599
etary donations into volunteerism, Bannister noted.
“We’ve averaged about 10,000 volunteer hours across the orga- nization pretty consis- tently for the past four or five years,” he said, adding that the total in 2020 was closer to 5,000, due to organizations moving to remote opera- tions and events being
537,970
319,353
230,076
Charles O’Brien
Charles Leach III
J. Jay Anderson
21
23
25
INSTITUTION
MONSON SAVINGS BANK
www.monsonsavings.com
NORTH BROOKFIELD SAVINGS BANK
www.northbrookfieldsavingsbank.com
NEW VALLEY BANK & TRUST CO.
www.banknewvalley.com
ASSETS
633,779
447,156
$393,740
326,504
84859
DEPOSITS
396,159
257,651
64462
BANKS IN WESTERN MASS.
RANKED BY ASSETS
 NET INCOME
784
377
-577
NET LOANS
    ADAMS COMMUNITY BANK
www.adamscooperative.com
LEE BANK
www.leebank.com
PITTSFIELD CO-OPERATIVE BANK
www.pittsfield-coop.com
Banks
Continued from page 27
the very first time.”
Meanwhile, Scully noted that a
Greater Boston Food Bank report
that food insecurity in Massachusetts reached an all-time high in Novem- ber. The state has experienced a 59% increase since 2018, representing more than 1 million people in need of food assistance. Most people are using food pantries for the first time.
“We’ve seen the demand at the food banks, and in so many other differ-
ent areas,” he told BusinessWest, not- ing that Country has donated more than $130,000 to local food pantries throughout the year. “We’ve always supported local food pantries and food banks, and we made significant con- tributions to them as well. Everyone is feeling the demands are greater than ever.”
As another example of the way financial institutions have rallied to the cause of food insecurity, Free- dom Credit Union partnered with its members and the local community in December by matching funds donated to benefit the Pioneer Valley USO.
Located at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, that organization provides more than 102,000 pounds
of food to more than 3,200 individuals annually through the Emergency Food Pantry, among other efforts.
“We’d heard that some of the people who serve us in the military are hav- ing trouble feeding their families, and the food pantries need to be stocked,” Welch said. “It’s pretty sad when people in the U.S. have to be going to the food banks, with the loss of jobs due to COVID. A lot of people are hurting this year.”
All the region’s banks and credit unions helped customers who were
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24
352,483
235,020
36366
PRESIDENT/CEO
Steven Lowell
Donna Boulanger
 324,357
J. Jeffrey Sullivan
           BusinessWest
BANKING & FINANCE
JANUARY 20, 2021 29
KEVIN DAY
profits actually weathered the early months of the pandemic well.
“In March, maybe the first week of April, I think my supposition would have been that everyone is going to
be hurting instantly,” he said. “But I’m involved in several nonprofit boards, and across the region, many are saying their needs have been met, in my view, pretty well.”
But 2021 poses a trap of sorts.
“The critical aspect is coming in the next year,” Day said. “Many of them received a great deal of donations dur- ing this past year, and we’re happy
to do our part. I think the needs will come as the recovery moves along this year, once the perception of need goes away.”
That’s because human needs are still great among families that come to nonprofits for help, especially those in the lower economic strata who have experienced economic devastation. “They’re going to need continued sup- port, and I expect that need will con- tinue through 2021, easily.”
Scully agreed. “The needs are great- er than the average person realizes. If you’re still employed with no interrup- tion in your household income, you might not realize a lot people were liv- ing on a shoestring, and that shoestring broke. The opportunity to donate and give back is huge.”
And will remain so going forward, Day added.
“We gave more money this year than we ever have, sprayed it around, touched every aspect of the nonprofit world,” he said. “People know we’re a good partner of the community, and we’re happy to help out those in need.” u
Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]
struggling financially in other ways as well, such as mortgage and loan defer- rals and relief loans.
“All the institutions did a lot to help members by deferring payments and coming up with loan programs,” Welch said. “It’s important to help people out, and we’re still doing that.”
Community Partners
While food insecurity and other basic needs are front of mind these days, banks and credit unions support a host of other nonprofits as well, many of which rely on performances, events, and member activity to pay their bills. Many of these were able to pivot to virtual events to maintain connections with the community until they can
go back to live events, but those don’t bring in nearly as much funding as in- person gatherings.
Through its philanthropic efforts, Scully said “what we try to do is help communities thrive, whether it’s eco- nomic health, physical health, or nutritional health. Put all those pieces together, and these communities will thrive. If there’s a need and we’re able to help satisfy some of these needs, we’ll do our part to the extent we can.”
That attitude, at most local financial institutions, extends beyond mon-
canceled. “That wasn’t from a lack of desire; people were concerned about going out in public, so there was a lack of opportunity. We expect that to come back this year as things start to open up again.”
At an employee giving campaign
in November, the bank actually had more associates give more money this year than ever before, Bannister added. “That could have gone the other way. There’s a lot more economic insecurity out there. So that, to us, was a sign that folks are still engaged, and they still want to give.”
While nonprofits have cut back hours and volunteers can’t always come in, especially at organizations that deal with an older population. “people have been creative,” Scully said. “We work once a month with
the Ware mobile food pantry. We were there the week before Christmas, and that had upwards of 300 cars coming in. They turned it into a mobile experi- ence. There’s a group of us there, you’re outside, masks on. It’s a way to give back, volunteer, and be safe.”
After all, he added, people want to help, and so do banks.
Day said the outpouring of concern was so great in 2020 that some non-
   
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