Helping Our Neighbors
Reports that the economy may be heading in the right direction didn't deter Mercantile Bank's Social Responsibility Committee (SRC) from handing out 45 checks and Thanksgiving baskets to families in need this past holiday season. The demand seemed to be greater than ever as requests from families, passed on to the SRC through social service agencies, surpassed the previous season. And the need reached across all demographic lines, with the majority of the hardest hit still being poor and working class families in the Boston-area. Fortunately, our employees at the Fenway and Brighton branches, turned out in force to help in this important effort to help put the Thanksgiving baskets together and get them out to families. The SRC is currently working on the 2012 budget, anticipating once again that this year's need will be just as great.
Mercantile Bank: Serious About Social Responsibility
Click to download our Guiding Principles & Objectives for SRC Donations
Through Mercantile's Social Responsibility Committee, funds were allocated to allow Project Place to purchase a van to transport its clients from one workplace to another. Pictured L-R are Randal Rucker, Chair of Mercantile Bank's Social Responsibility Committee and Chief Executive Officer of Family Services of Greater Boston; Suzanne Kenney, Executive Director of Project Place; and Stephen Lucitt, Vice President of Mercantile Bank.
This is why Mercantile Bank willingly accepts a leadership role in being sensitive to the economic well-being and development of all segments of the communities we serve.
- Identify areas of need where the Bank can make a meaningful and quantifiable difference in improving the lives, well-being, or economic condition of community residents and to do so in a sustainable manner.
- Oversee an appropriate allocation of Bank resources consistent with safe and sound banking practices to achieve the goals of the social responsibility guiding principles.
SRC membership. The Social Responsibility Committee is open to all staff members of Mercantile Bank, which has enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to assist others in improving their financial and economic condition.
The current chair is Randal Rucker, Chief Executive Officer of Family Service of Greater Boston and a Mercantile Bank board member. Other SRC members include Mercantile Bank board members Harry Collings and Panos Demeter and Mercantile Bank employees Edie Jacob, Marven Joseph, Siobhan Hanlon, Dale Lewis, Steve Lucitt, Marissa Mantas, Fred McGrane, Charley Monaghan, Eleni Pantelis, Tony Rich, Ellen Townsend, Matt Verhamme and Lisa Williams.
Examples of recent SRC projects
Winter Holiday Giving Program. Some of the stories of those who received a gift:
- Assisted a mother with three children whose husband was killed in the Haitian earthquake and who needed short-term help while waiting for immigration services.
- A new grandmother and caretaker of six children who finds it difficult to make financial ends meet.
- A single mother of two boys who recently had her hours cut at her job. The money she received helped provide for her boys during the holidays.
- A caregiver of two children and her ill mother, this recipient always lends a helping hand to others in need, despite her own limited fixed income. She tutored her peers in a Spanish computer learning class.
- A man who works two full-time jobs in an attempt to make ends meet for his wife and four children.
- Hospitalized for three weeks with complications from a pregnancy, this new mother has been unable to work for several months.
- A single mother of four children who was treated for thyroid cancer, which is now in remission. Despite her health difficulties, she persisted in completing her GED. She wanted to show her children that education is important and anything can be achieved with persistence.
Haiti Earthquake Recovery Fund. The SRC made a contribution to this emergency fund.
Donations
- Made a four–year financial commitment to Project Place that enables the repayment of a loan for much needed vans. Mercantile Bank has enjoyed a long and positive relationship with Project Place and offers financial training for its clients.
- Donated unrestricted funds to the Greater Boston Food Bank that supplies food for local food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless and residential shelters, youth programs, senior centers and day-care centers.
- Provided financial assistance for kitchen renovations for the food pantry at St. Anthony's Shrine, along with expanding its capacity to meet an ever-growing number of people seeking food assistance each week.
- Voted to provide funds to assist with the founding of the Ivol Brown Leadership Fund at Family Service of Greater Boston to support the academic and character development of promising youth in Boston.
- The SRC has funded the purchase of nearly 30 pieces of artwork from local artists, who are part of an Expressive Program in Boston. The artwork is on permanent display in the Bank's Fenway office.
History of the Social Responsibility Committee. Mercantile Bank Board of Directors chartered the SRC in 2003 and granted it general authority to ensure that all strategic plans, services and financial initiatives and use of organizational resources, are consistent with the Bank's guiding principle to be a truly responsible corporate citizen.
Initially, there were limited funds available for making cash donations and the Bank elected to donate its “expertise”. The SRC embarked on a plan to utilize its strengths and teach Financial Literacy to those who may benefit from this information. As Mercantile Bank grew and operations improved, so did its financial donations. The role of the SRC was expanded to insure these donations were allocated according to its Guiding Principles.
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