Winston Churchill said:

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” 

Giving is the spirit of MutualBank. We have four values which guide how we do business: Character, Compassion, Class and Competition. MutualBank has had a long standing history of giving back to the communities we live and work in, but our Jeans Day program goes beyond a company gift. It’s an opportunity for MutualBank employees to ‘make a life’.

Inevitably when you talk with someone who runs a nonprofit, they always say their greatest need is money. Our Outreach Committee found a way to meet the greatest need of the local nonprofits while giving our employees the opportunity to make a difference.  The Outreach Committee decided to incorporate a monthly "Jeans Day". Jeans days occur on the last Friday of the month and it costs an employee at least $5.00 to participate. The benefit to the employee is that they get to wear jeans to work. Bankers are typically traditional and conservative, so this is a step outside the box! The benefit to our community; however, is greater than we imagined.

A bank of our size, $1.4 billion, typically has a plan for sponsorships and certain organizations they support year after year. The best part about the Jeans Days is that the beneficiary of the funds, for each of the counties we serve (Delaware, Randolph, Grant, Wabash, Kosciusko, Elkhart, St. Joseph counties) are local to each county. Some months, the funds go to a national effort, like the American Red Cross, but the funds stay local in each of the communities we serve. Other months, the funds are given to different nonprofits who serve a certain segment of our community footprint. Either way, the funds, with the exception of one Jeans Day in 2012, stay in the county in which they were raised.

The one month I am referencing when funds did not stay in the counties we serve was in March 2012. In early spring, there was a horrible tornado in Southern Indiana, near Henryville, that leveled the town. It was one of the most devastating natural disasters our state has seen.  As a result, we had an “Emergency Jeans Day” to help our fellow Hoosiers in their time of need. Proceeds from this effort went to the American Red Cross to aid those Hoosiers in need.

We believe by giving our employees the opportunity to show compassion, we are helping them ‘make a life’.  We are proud of our employees and the impact they have on the communities we serve.   It is our pleasure to share that in 2012, our employees have helped over 20 different organizations raising $14,264.03!

Someone I know well told me that I was a rather odd duck, both very philosophical yet entertained by some of the most mundane and simple of things (read sophomoric humor!).  It is with that premise that I ruminate on the whole season of Thanksgiving.  While some of the auspices of how it started may be left to the historian to argue, it does seem to me that we now have a holiday whose sole purpose is to cause us to reflect for a moment on those things for which we are truly thankful. 

I have also noticed many Facebook friends are taking this period of time to express their thankfulness for various things each day apparently culminating in the holiday itself.  While I am certainly glad for this, what strikes me is the fact that we have to create a holiday to remind us to be thankful.  And so it is that I commit to a new resolution long before the New Year (a whole month!) to pause whenever I can and be in a state of thankfulness as often as possible. 

So with that beginning, let me launch into the many things for which I am thankful.

1. Family – I have a wonderful wife who I adore and continue to find to be the joy of my life, two daughters who are succeeding in their own careers, two dogs who show boundless joy when I get home, and of course, a brother, nieces, parents, in-laws, and others who make my life so much better.
2. MutualBank – Wow, where to start.  A great group of people, a bank that still values its ability to focus on the community, and an ethos that is second to none.
3. MutualBank Clients – It is because of our phenomenal clients that MutualBank gets to succeed every day.  Our clients are some of the most loyal customers that I have ever encountered and they do us proud every time they tell a friend what a great bank we are.  I am truly thankful for all of our clientele.
4. Friends – one of my insights into how good life is runs proportional to the deep friendships that my wife and I have developed – there is a direct correlation to the two.
5. United Way – MutualBank is a heartfelt supporter of United Way as are many of my colleagues.  Why?  Because the United Way does great work in helping others that need it most and bringing together community partners to make our hometowns better for all.  By the way, there are many other great community partners that MutualBank and its many team members support – part of our ethos of being true to our community bank philosophy.
6. Health – yes, I’m getting older and the joints are not quite as supple, the muscles take a little longer to quit aching, and my brain doesn’t seem to remember as much (maybe because I have many decades of stuff in it now – I hope that’s it!).  In spite of that, I’m still thankful that I can move easily and can still have deep and meaningful dialogues with friends and family.  So I try not to complain about the aging process and just be thankful that I am where I am.

That’s my list; I hope that as we conclude the year that you take a moment to write down yours.  When we approach things with an optimistic and thankful attitude, we find that the world is indeed slightly more positive and certainly more appreciative. I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving and way in advance, a very Happy New Year!