Gregg Tewksbury, NHMB President and CEO, Patrick Tufts, Granite United Way President and CEO, Scoop Welch, Granite United Way VP Regional Operations, Linda Lorden, Merrimack County Savings Bank President, Philip Emma, NHMB Chief Operating Officer
Merrimack County Savings Bank (The Merrimack), Meredith Village Savings Bank (MVSB), MillRiver Wealth Management (MillRiver) and New Hampshire Mutual Bancorp (NHMB) employees pledged $56,685.82 to Granite United Way as part of their annual fundraising campaign. The Merrimack, MillRiver, MVSB and NHMB matched the funds, for a total donation of $113,371.82.
“We are beyond ecstatic about these results,” said Jessica Ruel, Business & Branch Development Manager at MVSB’s office on Route 104 in Meredith. “This is an all-time high donation for our organization and we are excited about the benefit that the money provides to communities where we live and work.”
Ruel co-chaired the annual employee donation drive with Megan Piazza, Branch Services Manager at MVSB’s Ashland branch and Lynn Brooks, Payroll & Recruiting Administrator for NHMB.
“One of the advantages of our unique mutual bank partnership is that in many ways we can work together to create greater impact in our communities, just as we do to offer better products and services to our customers,” noted Piazza.
“Our employees throughout the organization volunteer over ten-thousand hours each year. They also donate and wear jeans on Fridays to show support for local organizations such as the Payson Cancer Center, the Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction and the Interlakes Children’s Fund. The excitement of supporting our local nonprofits is shared from one sister organization to another,” added Brooks.
While the funds donated by employees will be distributed to the community through Granite United Way according to employees’ preferences, the United Way will distribute the matching funds equally to each of ten nonprofits: the Child Advocacy Center of Carroll County; the Circle Program; Cross Roads House; Friends of Forgotten Children, the Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity, Isiah 61 Café, National Association of Mental Illness (NAMI) NH; Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter, Seacoast Mental Health and Voices Against Violence. These nonprofits were selected by the employees of NHMB, MVSB, The Merrimack and MillRiver.
“New Hampshire Mutual Bancorp and its employees continue to be some of our strongest partners in improving our community,” said Patrick Tufts, President and CEO of Granite United Way. “The combination of employee generosity and the matching corporate gift are a wonderful demonstration of commitment to helping our neighbors learn, earn and be healthy across New Hampshire. It takes all of us working together to drive positive change.”
Granite United Way is an experienced and trusted organization dedicated to leveraging the resources of investors and volunteers to create lasting change by addressing the underlying causes of our community’s most pressing needs. Granite United Way is committed to improving the lives of individuals and families by supporting programs in the areas of education, income and health. Granite United Way works with over 1,000 companies, 25,000 investors and thousands of volunteers every year to make our communities better places to live, work and raise families. Granite United Way serves the Southern (Manchester/Derry/Salem), Merrimack County, North Country, Central NH, Northern and Upper Valley Regions of NH and VT as well as Windsor County, VT. For more information, visit www.graniteuw.org.
New Hampshire Mutual Bancorp, a mutual holding company, was formed in 2013 when two New Hampshire-based community banks, Meredith Village Savings Bank and Merrimack County Savings Bank, formally affiliated – the first relationship of its kind in New Hampshire. This strategic partnership has positioned the Banks to leverage each other’s strengths as they work together to advance a shared vision of maintaining and enhancing their community banking standards and values. MillRiver Wealth Management joined as a third subsidiary of NHMB in 2015, combining the financial advisory divisions of MVSB and The Merrimack. In July 2018, Savings Bank of Walpole joined as a fourth subsidiary. For more information, visit nhmutual.com.