Happy National Volunteer Week! What a perfect opportunity to showcase one of the many reasons to bank local: the deep roots we have in our community. With many opportunities to volunteer and get involved, Core Bank is empowering our employees to continue to support our friends and neighbors through unique programs and events.
Polar Plunge
Every year since 2010, Core Bank employees have been taking a dip in freezing Lake Zorinsky around New Years’ in order to raise money for the Nebraska Special Olympics team. To date, we have raised nearly $100,000 for the team!
In addition to the plunge itself, employees have had the opportunity to learn more about the organization through lunch and learn events. Beginning in 2014, the Special Olympics team has been coming out to share more about the organization with bank employees. These educational events are not only fun, but they also helped boost participation within the bank. Our employees are very competitive and wanted to become the top fundraising team. After years of coming just shy of that goal, it finally happened in February of 2020 when we had 52 plungers and raised $18,000, the most of any of the other teams.
Christmas Families
For the past 22 years, Core Bank has been able to provide Christmas gifts for over 100 families and nearly 120 elderly individuals. We work with local schools and their counselors, as well as the Eastern Nebraska Office of Aging, to obtain wish lists for both groups. Once the wish lists are obtained, Core Bank employees begin to work their magic! With little knowledge about the individuals they are shopping for, employees put an immense amount of thought and care into each individual gift they purchase. They shop for these gifts as if they are buying them for a close friend or family member. It’s truly heartwarming.
Once all the gifts are purchased they are wrapped during a lively gift wrapping party where holiday music is played all afternoon long as employees wrap gifts with great care. Each year employees end up wrapping about 300 to 400 gifts.
Once the gifts are ready to go, a team of employees sets off all across the city to deliver each family’s gifts to the schools and school counselors. Despite the challenges 2020 brought, we were still able to provide what we hope is a memorable Christmas for deserving families and individuals.
Core Bank Cares: We Give Where We Live
Core Bank Cares is a program that is designed to give our employees yet another avenue to support our wonderful community. Through this program, every employee is given a $100 stipend to use for charitable giving. Employees are in full control of how and where the dollars are used to support those in need. The stipends can be used to donate to employees’ favorite local non-profit, buy groceries for a family in need, or even be pooled together with other employees to support a person or cause on a larger scale.
Volunteer Time Off
As a community bank, we believe that making it as easy as possible for our employees to get involved in the community we serve is the key to fostering great relationships within it. One of the ways Core Bank has made community involvement easier for employees is through the introduction of Volunteering Time Off (VTO). Bank employees are awarded 16 hours per year to invest their time into the community. Employees have done some pretty amazing things with their VTO so far! One group was able to help build a home for a very deserving family through Habitat for Humanity in Sarpy County. Opportunities like this are exactly what Volunteer Time Off was made for so it’s exciting to see the impact that has been made and will continue to be made in the future.
Partnership 4 Kids
To mentor kids for college today, and careers tomorrow. That is the mission of Partnership 4 Kids. Core Bank has been involved in the Partnership 4 Kids program since 2015. We even have several employees who have been mentors since the bank started participating in the program! Core Bank is active in several programs within the organization. Programs such as Goal Buddies, Book Buddies, and middle and high school mentorship. The impact we’ve been able to be a part of through Partnership 4 Kids has been amazing to see. A few of our employees have had the privilege of mentoring their students beginning in middle school and all the way through high school, providing them with consistent support along the way.
SHARE Omaha
We’ve also partnered with SHARE Omaha on several initiatives and we’re passionate about the work they do in the community. Here is an article that was written by Executive Director, Marjorie Maas, discussing the do-gooder spirit.
If you’re looking for a way to donate your time or dollars, visit shareomaha.org.
We’ve also been featured in Omaha Magazine as a local organization that values giving back.
Our employees’ hard work, which drives our company’s success, is the reason Core Bank is able to give to our community and empower our team members to give to others. We’re grateful for our employees because they are what makes Core Bank and our community truly remarkable!