The employees of one local bank are giving back to their community by volunteering their time to several area nonprofits.
MBL Bank employees give their time through Project Good, a community service initiative where they are allowed eight workday hours per year to volunteer with local nonprofits. Tracy Campbell, vice president of business development and technology and coordinator of Project Good, said the mission of the program is to give back to the community, carrying a slogan of “Doing Good in the Neighborhood.”
“Our mission is to give back to the community that has given this bank so much for more than 107 years,” Campbell said. “As the only locally owned bank with headquarters in Minden, we want to be leaders in improving our community.”
Each year, they choose nonprofit organizations to volunteer their time. They have donated time to organizations and projects that include the Joe LeBlanc Food Pantry, Read Across America Day, Project Reclaim, United Way Day of Caring, the Webster Parish Quiz Bowl, Junior Achievement, the Webster Parish Council on Aging and MAR-C.
“This doesn’t include the time our employees spent volunteering at the St. Jude auction and race, Grilling on Main or those employees who serve in civic and community organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, Consortium of Minden, Widows in Need, Evergreen Celebrity Water Event and more,” Campbell said.
Bank President Jack Byrd said Project Good is a great way for the employees to feel good about themselves and boost morale.
“It’s been a wonderful thing for our bank,” he said. “We have a lot of excitement among our employees. It’s not a mandatory thing, and the response has been outstanding. The amount of involvement has been tremendous throughout the bank. It’s just been an outstanding thing for our community, and the employees feel good about trying to make a difference in the community.”
The projects for which they’ve volunteered offer a variety of activities for them to participate in, Byrd said. It allows them the freedom to choose projects that interest them. Employees have taken part in the United Way’s Day of Caring by helping to spruce up The Farm, packaged and distributed food boxes for JLFP, and presented several seminars on scams, identity theft and financial literacy. They’ve also been selected as judges for the Webster Parish Quiz bowl and read books to students on Read Across America Day.
“It’s been a great experience for the bank, and I would encourage any other company to consider such an endeavor, because it’s been an outstanding program for us,” Byrd said.