50 MARCH / APRIL 2023 A $10,000 grant from Horizon Bank, Michigan City, to the LaPorte County Habitat for Humanity in support of their 2022 build project has resulted in the completion of another new, affordable home. It was completed in November in time for the family to enjoy Thanksgiving. Housing prices and rent in the area have risen significantly, with threebedroom homes renting for more than $1,000 per month. This build was financed with Habitat’s 0% interest loan, resulting in affordable repayments over 30 years. United Fidelity Bank, Evansville, participated in the annual 911 Gives Hope for the Holidays Toy Drive. In November, all UFB banking centers in the Evansville region sold paper Santa hats for $1 each, and in early December the bank donated $2,700 to the toy drive. Donations collected from the event were used to purchase toys to give to Evansville Psychiatric Children’s Center, Ascension-St. Vincent Warrick County (Boonville), Deaconess Gateway, Ronald McDonald House at Gateway, Ronald McDonald House at Ascension-St. Vincent, Ascension-St. Vincent, Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at Ascension-St. Vincent and Echo Health Clinic Downtown. HB Centier Bank, Merrillville, donated $26,000 to endow a scholarship at the Purdue University Northwest College of Business. The Pathway to Purpose Endowed Scholarship benefits undergraduate students majoring in accounting or finance who demonstrate a financial need. Purdue University Northwest is one of the campuses where the Indiana Bankers Association, with help from members including Centier, funded the creation of a banking concentration. Centier also donated $52,000 to nine United Way agencies across Indiana as part of its annual United Way Workplace Campaign. The money will support 100 programs in the 11 counties the bank serves. Another $5,000 was donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana to support the organization’s programs and events this year. Employees at First State Bank of Middlebury donated money in exchange for wearing blue jeans to work on selected dates in November and December 2022. Those funds were then donated to food pantries in each region the bank covers. Employees in Middlebury chose for their funds to go to the Middlebury Food Pantry, Goshen donated to The Window, Elkhart selected Guidance Ministries, and South Bend donated to the Food Bank of Northern Indiana. Together, employees donated more than $1,800 to the named agencies. BANKING ON COMMUNITY DEPARTMENT (from left) Representatives from Centier Bank, Merrillville, and Purdue University Northwest at a check presentation to establish the Pathway to Purpose Endowed Scholarship at PNW in December 2022. Jon Miller, Jessica Keegan, Robin Tahara Miller, Sean Behensky and Jim Neff of First State Bank of Middlebury present a check to Pam Bingaman of Middlebury Food Pantry (third from left) on Jan. 4, 2023. The latest affordable home built in November 2022 in the Michigan City community thanks, in part, to a grant awarded by Horizon Bank, Michigan City, to LaPorte County Habitat for Humanity. Employees of United Fidelity Bank, Evansville, present a donation check to volunteers at the annual 911 Gives Hope for the Holiday Toy Drive in December 2022. The drive brought in enough toys to fill a 52-foot trailer.
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