Kim Cunningham, a mortgage lender at the Anderson branch of Park National Bank, helps a client load meat into her cart at an Inter Parish Ministry Mobile Food Pantry on September 25 at Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Batavia.

Kim Cunningham, a mortgage lender at the Anderson branch of Park National Bank, helps a client load meat into her cart at an Inter Parish Ministry Mobile Food Pantry on September 25 at Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Batavia.
By Kelly Doran
Editor

Park National Bank employees are serving the community for a couple of weeks during the annual Park Cares Week.

This is Park Bank’s fourth Park Cares Week, although there are so many service projects that the “week” began September 19 and will end October 9, according to a release.

All of the Park Employees from the eight branches in southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky will volunteer for 20 different projects.

Agencies served include Clermont Senior Services, Cincinnati Nature Center, Epilepsy Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Inter Parish Ministry, Teen Challenge and many more, according to the release.

“We can find things that people are passionate about and a lot of times that they stay engaged with volunteering throughout the year,” said Michelle Hamilton, Park Bank marketing officer.

At the Inter Parish Ministry Mobile Food Pantry on September 25 at Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Batavia, employees were helping as IPM distributed food to low-income families from eastern Hamilton County and all of Clermont County.

Volunteers helped load carts with food, load cars and restock food. They tried to help the clients have a positive experience, Hamilton said.

Clients, who can come once a month for food, get items such as juice, canned and boxed foods, toilet paper, bread, meat and more.

“The team is very excited about getting to help people,” Hamilton said.

The employees especially enjoy the one-on-one aspect of working with IPM, Hamilton said.

This is Missy Frazier’s first time volunteering with IPM. Frazier, who works at the Eastgate branch, feels like she’s making more of an impact here than she might other places. She also has enjoyed meeting new people.

Park’s relationship with IPM is not limited to volunteering once a year, however. The company also gives IPM $5,000 a year and participates in the Stomp Out Hunger 5K Run/Walk, Hamilton said.

In addition, the president of the IPM board is on staff at Park Bank, Hamilton said.

“Giving back to the communities that support us is really part of our culture. Being a community bank, it’s important all the way from our president down to the associates that we hire,” Hamilton said.

IPM has a hard time finding volunteers once the school year starts again, said Volunteer Coordinator Carol Rountree, so the Park employees’ time is especially appreciated. They serve food twice a month from 10 a.m. to noon.

Families can come once a month and the food usually lasts four to seven days, Rountree said.

There were about 30 volunteers on September 25, including 10 from Park Bank, Rountree said. Without Park, there would not have been enough volunteers that day.

“Park does a lot for us,” Rountree said.

IPM even nominated Park Bank for ServeOhio Award for Outstanding Corporate Volunteer Initiative given by the Ohio Commission on Service and Volunteerism in 2014, which the bank won, Rountree said.