21 Hoosier Banker October 2014 nitive skills to area kindergarten students. Team members created a 20-screen PowerPoint presentation, detailing the relationship between early-age reading exposure and later-life success/failure rates, correlating with specific indicators including crime, high school dropout rates, teen pregnancy and adverse health conditions. Event: Referencing the “Heckman Equation” of invest + develop + sustain = gain, the Crusaders created a book drive for kindergarten classrooms as a showcase event. To bring in a financial literacy benefit, team members also partnered with kindergarten classrooms to read to students a well-known financial literacy children’s book, The Three Cups, by Tony Townsley and Mark St. Germain. Taking a holistic approach to literacy, the Crusader team additionally worked with families of students to share with parents the benefits of promoting literacy, and tips and techniques to make it possible. Outcome: The book drive exceeded expectations by bringing in more than 2,000 reading-related items for donation to schools. Additionally the project continues beyond the initial book drive, as Crusader team members have formed relationships with the schools they partnered with and have committed to continued volunteer work in the classrooms. Wooded Warriors – Helping FoodInsecure Seniors Concept: Moved by the plight of seniors who lack adequate food supplies, the Wooded Warriors team elected to partner with four food banks to bring awareness of the food bank programming to the public. While percentages vary county-to-county, it is estimated as many as 25 percent of senior citizens are food-insecure at various times during the year, due a lack of money and/or resources. Event: The Wooded Warriors identified four established food banks that would benefit from elevated community awareness: Food Finders Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana, Community Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Indiana Inc. and Middlebury Food Pantry. To act as community conduits, the banks of the Wooded Warrior’s team members are now accepting food bank applications from consumers in need and are providing information about the food banks to increase awareness. Additionally, Wooded Warriors have volunteered at the food banks, have sponsored food drives and have assisted in creating programming in Clinton and Cass counties. Outcome: The program that the Wooded Warriors have created is readily sustainable. It ties the banking community in with food banks in a manner that quickly connects food-insecure seniors with food options. Heightened community awareness additionally benefits the food banks by helping to connect resources with those in need, and by making the public aware of opportunities to donate to and volunteer for food banks. In summary, the community outreach contest was an outstanding learning exercise that brought in the benefit of helping the communities that bankers serve. This portion of the Leadership Development The Crusaders brought reading opportunities to children. Industy Knowledge What do you want from your law firm? Bose Means BusinessSM boselaw.com Continued on page 22.
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