The first thing I did when our bank called was ask my friend, Melissa, if it was legit. “Yes, you won a $500 deposit, just for having a College Savings Account at FirstBank,” she explained.
It was a lie.
After we picked up our daughter from school and brought her to our branch, a manager escorted us to a room. It seemed odd. Wouldn’t this minor deposit be signed at a little desk in the middle of the bank?
Behind the conference room door were nearly 20 smiling faces, some of them very familiar. “Eleana didn’t win some random drawing,” my friend continued, surrounded by balloons and tiny bundt cakes.
FirstBank’s philosophy is #BankingForGood. And, boy, did FirstBank spread some goodness.
My friend, Melissa, had told our story to FirstBank, including our projects to distribute “Your DD Will Get You Home” stickers to thousands of students before prom, and strategically place memorial benches in places where kids will be making critical choices before driving their cars.
FirstBank responded in 3 very big ways!
- $175 donation to Eleana for a shopping spree
- $300 gift card to Whole Foods to Gino and me
- $3,000 to pay off the Go Fund Me for benches, stickers and magnets
Those 20 smiling faces exemplified the meaning of Banking for Good. Included were Dawn Davis, North Market President, Kristin Gallagher and Jamie Stanton, Retail Senior Managers for the North Market, Joy Power, Treasury Management Senior Specialist, Melissa Thomas Whitmer, Senior Vice President at Huntington bank (who started her banking career at FirstBank), and Caleb and Haley, friends we have known since nearly the beginning of their lives.
We are grateful to have Dominic’s legacy honored in such powerful ways. As I have repeated in the last 8 1/2 months, in the middle of this awful nightmare, there are also pockets of tremendous beauty.
FirstBank is the latest in a parade of supportive people who continue to show up, day after day, in every possible way. I will never find enough chances to thank you all. But I sure can try …
Dominic didn’t get to take nearly enough breaths. But FirstBank, and all of our incredible friends, continue to take my breath away.