Voters decide MSB giving recipients

Date: 2/7/2013

MONSON – For the third year in a row, Monson Savings Bank asked the community to help plan the bank's community giving activities by inviting people to vote for the organizations they would like the bank to support during 2013.

"We received nearly 900 votes for more than 60 different organizations doing community service work in Monson, Hampden, Wilbraham and Ware, where we will be opening a branch later this year," Steve Lowell, President of Monson Savings Bank, said. "We were pleased to hear from so many people. It really shows that we live in a community of concerned and committed citizens, and that feels great."

The top vote getters are: River East School-to-Career Inc.; Homefront Equestrians; Link to Libraries; Replanting Monson Tree Committee; Monson Bellman Antique Fire Apparatus Club/Museum; Blue Star Equiculture; Scantic Valley YMCA; Greene Room Productions; Boy Scouts of Western Massachusetts; and Two Town Trolley.

The organizations have been notified of the good news and will be receiving checks from the bank in the next few weeks.

According to Lowell, the list continues to change every year.

"Just like last year, four of the ten organizations were new to the Top Ten, and we learned about new groups that we didn't even know were out there. That reinforces our decision to reach out to ask people for their input," Lowell said. "We think that's part of being a community bank."