How many local businesses do you know of that have been around for more than a century? With more than 131 years under our belt, NVE Bank is proud to count ourselves among them. It is our pleasure to serve as a leading community mutual bank for people throughout northern New Jersey. We do this not only through offering excellent banking products and services, but by volunteering with and otherwise supporting regional organizations in myriad ways to help strengthen our communities. One of our favorite parts about starting the New Year is looking back at what we accomplished in the “old year.” Here are some highlights!
MAKING IT COUNT WHERE IT REALLY MATTERS
NVE Bank’s roots are steeped in supporting our communities. This comes in many forms, and frequently centers on philanthropic endeavors, such as the following:
National Rebuilding Day
At NVE Bank, we put a lot of people in their dream homes with our residential mortgage products and services. But some of our neighbors are in need of a different kind of service when it comes to their homes. That’s why, every April, the NVE team marks our calendar for National Reuilding Month. By sponsoring a local project in support of Rebuilding Together North Jersey’s (RTBC) National Rebuilding Day program, we help provide much needed, and sometimes critical and life-saving repairs, for vulnerable families in our communities. In April 2018, NVE employees volunteered to assist in renovations to a single-family home in Cresskill, New Jersey. Renovations included painting, landscaping and general home repairs.
The work done by Rebuilding Together volunteers is at no cost to the recipient families and monies for materials are raised through sponsorships, donations, and in-kind gifts. To that end, NVE happily presented RTBC with a $7,500 donation to assist with their mission.
Food Drives and Thanksgiving Turkey Distribution
As a community bank, NVE has a hyperlocal focus, allowing us to devlop meaningful, long-term partnerships with various organizations that serve the same areas we do — St. Cecilia’s Office of Concern Food Pantry is one example. We host several annual food drives to benefit local families in need on behalf of the organization. The Pantry supplies weekly groceries to more than 890 families in Englewood and surrounding communities; 500 of those families pick up food weekly. We are fortunate to have staff, customers and other neighbors whose generosity enables NVE to consistently make substantial donations to support their programs. Our 2018 Cereal and Thanksgiving Food Drives garnered many bags of food for the Pantry. NVE staff members also volunteered in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, helping to distribute hundreds of turkeys to families in need.
In June, NVE also made a $1,000 donation to fund the Office of Concern Food Pantry’s Product Protection initiative. The donation covered the cost of purchasing durable storage containers to ensure that the food products collected through donations are adequately stored and protected against heat and moisture. You can learn more about the Office of Concern Food Pantry in our recent blog post, where we interviewed John Nolan and George McKenna, who oversee the operation.
GETTING A MAKEOVER
A big, exciting change that came in 2018 was the rollout of our improved website, which showcases a new layout, enhanced functionality and new user-friendly tools. One of the more notable features the redesign included was the conversion to a new domain; the URL now ends with “.bank” instead of “.com”. This verified banking domain, created by security and banking experts, has a higher level of mandated security than any other commercially available domain. Our customers’ security has always been, and will always be our priority, and in an era of increasing cybersecurity threats, these enhanced security features create a safer space than ever before. Visit the website at www.nve.bank and read about all the updates and features here: NVE Bank Rolls Out New Website.
HELPING KIDS GET AN EARLY START
It’s never too early to help children learn about saving and managing money!
iPiggiBank Financial Literacy Program
In 2017, NVE embarked on an exciting partnership with iPiggiBank, sponsoring their Financial Literacy Class, Money Management 4 Kids, an innovative, eight-week educational program. NVE was delighted to return as a sponsor in 2018, supporting classes delivered to third-graders attending the Bergen Family Center after school enrichment program at the Dr. John Grieco Elementary School in Englewood. NVE made a $3,000 donation to fund the program.
Teach Children To Save
NVE Bank continued our support of the American Bankers Association Foundation’s “Teach Children to Save” program at schools throughout North Jersey in April 2018. Teach Children to Save Day was celebrated April 20, but volunteers from all our branches dedicated time to educating Bergen County students about good savings habits all month long. Our program included visits to The Right Start Learning Center in Teaneck, Englewood on the Palisades Charter School, the Hillside School in Closter, and Smith Elementary School in Tenafly. Since this program began in 1997, over 125,000 bankers have taught savings to more than five million students!
11th Annual Scholarship Program
NVE Bank awarded $1,000 Scholarships to 10 area high school seniors at a reception hosted by the bank at its Englewood headquarters on June 19. The scholarships are part of a program that has been offered by the Bank for the past eleven years, and extends to area middle schools, where seven graduating eighth-grade students were selected to receive $500 Savings Product Scholarships. Since the inception of the program, NVE Bank has awarded more than $165,000 to deserving scholars in Bergen County.
High School recipients included:
Haemi Lee – Leonia High School
Olivia Sher – Cresskill High School
Alyssa Mehl – Pascack Valley High School
Serena McKeon – Northern Valley Regional High School
Soo Hyum – Academies at Englewood
Candis Balkaran – Dwight Morrow High School
Chelse Salnave – Bergenfield High School
Jessica Perrone – New Milford High School
Patrick Williams – Teaneck High School
Miguel Angel Rosales Morales – Tenafly High School.
Middle School recipients included:
Robert Keating – Benjamin Franklin Middle School
Hannah Kim – Cresskill Middle School
Layla Williams – Thomas Jefferson Middle School
Nobonita Dimitra – Janis Dismus Middle School
Xavier Thompson – Leonia Middle School
Alyssa Fuld – David Owens Middle School
Marcelino Morales – Roy Brown Middle School.
PRESERVING THE ARTS
Financial literacy is crucial, but providing children with arts education is important, too. NVE Bank partnered with Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC) to bring live performing arts programs to schools in Bergen County throughout 2018. Through the organization’s “Arts in Education” program, NVE sponsored assembly programs in Englewood, Tenafly, Leonia, Teaneck, Cresskill, Bogota, Bergenfield, New Milford, Westwood and Closter. The programs offer students the opportunity to interact with live performers, learn about issues that impact youth today, and experience live theater in the comfort of their own school!
ADDING TO THE FAMILY
As a community bank, we have a people-first philosophy, which includes our staff. We’re always happy to see the NVE family grow, which it did towards the end of 2018 when several new team members arrived. They’ve already made an impact and we couldn’t be happier to have them on board!
Top left – right: Matthew Isola, AVP/Commercial Loan Officer; Jermaine Watson, Universal Banker; Elaine McGee, VP/Residential & Consumer Lending.
Bottom left – right: Brian Uhlfelder, Tenafly Branch Manager; Jonathan Bender, AVP/Senior Credit Analyst; Allison Larro, Branch Manager Palisades Avenue.
Here’s to a great 2018 and an even better 2019!
NVE Bank hosts and participates in various community service, fundraising and awareness events throughout the year. To learn more about these programs, or NVE Bank’s banking products and services, visit our website, stop by one of our convenient neighborhood branches in Bergen County, or call 1-866-NVE BANK (683-2265) to speak with a branch associate.
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