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Stuff The Van 2025 – Community Banks Giving Back

By Laura Bentley, Newburyport.Com Correspondent
Owner of Newburyport.Com, Laura manages Business Development, Fundraising, the VIP Program, Blogging and the Events Calendar.
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Stuff the Van, the annual back-to-school collection drive organized by Newburyport Bank and Pentucket Bank, is back this summer! With the new school year rapidly approaching, be sure to come out and support this initiative, which will take place Friday, August 1 from 9 am to 3 pm. There will be volunteers set up to receive donations of NEW backpacks and NEW school supplies at Pentucket Bank’s 120 Lincoln Avenue branch in Haverhill and Newburyport Bank’s 21 Storey Avenue branch in Newburyport. Additionally, both banks will be accepting donations at all Newburyport Bank and Pentucket Bank locations during regular business hours through Wednesday, August 6.

Help make Stuff the Van 2025 a huge success for our community! With the final day of this year’s collection drive upon us, please consider dropping off NEW backpacks and NEW school supplies at any Newburyport Bank or Pentucket Bank location by the end of the day on Wednesday, August 6, during regular business hours. Thank you to everyone who donated during last week’s collection drives—your generosity is greatly appreciated!

Stuff the Van is a way for these organizations to give back to the community, helping to level the playing field of education for all children through their support of local social service agencies. Newburyport Bank’s Massachusetts collection efforts support the Pettengill House, a Salisbury based nonprofit who will distribute donations received at Newburyport Bank’s Massachusetts locations through their Operation Backpack annual campaign. Donations received at Newburyport Bank’s, New Hampshire locations will be donated to and distributed by the Community Action Partnership of Strafford County

 

Pentucket Bank partners with the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence to distribute donations received at Pentucket Bank branch locations, widening the geographical span of impact and opportunities for students throughout the area.

Both Newburyport Bank and Pentucket Bank have a strong history of supporting critical initiatives that positively impact local families. Their shared commitment to community provided a natural progression for the merger of these dedicated community Banks; leveraging the strength and stability of their combined assets under the River Run Bankcorp. The evolved banking structure enables the banks to maintain their independence with a mission that continues to prioritize customer experience, employees and ongoing investment in community.

Stuff the Van is accepting donations of NEW school supplies, including NEW backpacks, for students ranging in age from kindergarten to twelfth grade. This initiative is crucial to children throughout our area, so please consider making a donation at any of the Newburyport Bank or Pentucket Bank locations by Wednesday, August 6 during regular banking hours. All donations are greatly appreciated and will help make a difference for local families throughout the area.

Most Needed Supplies (NEW Items Only, Please):

Index cards, sticky notes, durable backpacks, binders (1″-3″), binder dividers, lined filler paper, spiral notebooks, composition notebooks, pocket folders, calculators, pencil sharpeners, pencil cases/pouches, mini staplers, washable markers, permanent markers, dry erase markers, colored pencils, pens (black and blue), glue sticks, highlighters.

Build A Bed Inspires Teamwork by Local Banks to Benefit Children

By Laura Bentley, Newburyport.Com Correspondent
Owner of Newburyport.Com, Laura manages Business Development, Fundraising, the VIP Program, Blogging and the Events Calendar.
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Local banks will join forces for their annual Build A Bed team-building initiative, an inspiring example of collaboration and teamwork helping to build beds for children in our community and communities throughout Massachusetts. On Friday, September 13, 2024 Newburyport Bank, Pentucket Bank and Institution for Savings will reconvene in the Newburyport Bank, State Street parking lot from 1-3 pm combining efforts to achieve their shared Build A Bed mission, to help give every child a place to dream.

What began in 2022 with Newburyport Bank and Institution for Savings as a friendly bed-building competition with a shared goal to help make a difference in the lives of children, developed into a teamed approach. Pentucket Bank, who merged with Newburyport Bank under the name River Run Bancorp MHC, joined the team in 2023 strengthening this critical community-wide initiative. These three local banks worked together, encouraging volunteers to create mixed teams to include employees from the other banks. In 2023, the Build A Bed teams successfully built 30 beds in support the goal, to provide A Bed for Every Child.

While this event takes place in September, throughout the entire month of August 2024, there will be a bedding and stuffed animal drive, where members of the community are encouraged to drop off NEW stuffed animals and twin-sized bedding at any Newburyport Bank or Pentucket Bank location to accompany the beds being donated.

There are many children in Massachusetts who don’t have the luxury of having their own bed. They are sharing with siblings or parents and in some cases, children are sleeping on couches, air mattresses, floors and beds that they have outgrown or areBuild A Bed Donations, Teamwork, Newburyport Bank broken. With sleep being an essential element to physical and mental health, the Build A Bed mission has been recognized by many as a critical necessity.

The afternoon will kick off with lunch served by Michael’s Harborside to the volunteers, giving bank employees a chance to say “hi” to friends and meet new ones as a warm-up for this amazing team-building activity.

The 2024 Build A Bed will come on the heels of a rewarding drive in 2023, where instead of cars, the Newburyport Bank parking lot was filled with employees, materials, and tools that volunteers used to build beds. It was inspiring to see the mixed teams — blue shirts representing Newburyport Bank/Pentucket Bank and the green shirts representing Institution for Savings — and it was inspiring to watch businesses that could be categorized as friendly competitors unite for the greater good, putting competition aside and instead prioritizing the Build A Bed mission to help ensure that every child has a place to dream.

In 2024, we are looking forward to another beneficial day of building beds for the children of this community.

Build A Bed, Newburyport Bank Teamwork Initiative

Historic Carousel on Salisbury Beach – Newburyport Bank $250K Donation

By Laura Bentley, Newburyport.Com Correspondent
Owner of Newburyport.Com, Laura manages Business Development, Fundraising, the VIP Program, Blogging and the Events Calendar.
Historic Carousel, Salisbury Beach

A beautifully restored historic carousel and new pavilion has been constructed on Salisbury Beach thanks to the efforts of the Salisbury Beach Partnership andHistoric Carousel, Salisbury Beach a generous $250K donation from Newburyport Bank—a true community bank that gives back to the neighborhoods it serves. This project is part of a greater effort to restore Salisbury’s waterfront, creating a year-round family-oriented destination.

The pavilion is located at a space on Broadway that has been vacant for 25 years, donated by Partnership President Wayne Capolupo and his family. Along with the historic carousel, the pavilion is also home to a much-needed Newburyport Bank micro branch and event space.

The wooden hand-carved carousel, dating back to 1909, was built by W.F. Mangels at the Looff factory in East Providence, Rhode Island. During its heyday, the Looff carousel whirled and twirled at Harveys Lake Amusement Park in Pennsylvania. Now over 100 years later, the historic carousel has been completely restored and is once again bringing smiles to riders—big and small.

Historic Carousel, Salisbury Beach The carousel, one of only 300 of its kind, is made up of 44 hand-carved and painted wooden animals—including horses, giraffes, camels, and goats. As part of the fundraising for the project, families and local businesses have been given the opportunity to “adopt” one of the animals and sponsor it for the next 20 years.

Along with the Adopt a Horse program, all proceeds from prior year Sea Festival of Trees and the engraved brick campaign were also allocated to the historic carousel and pavilion. The Salisbury Beach Partnership has continued to raise up to $1 million in funds for the Campaign for the Carousel.

The Salisbury waterfront is no stranger to having a beautiful carousel for locals and visitors to enjoy. The Broadway Flying Horses, the original Salisbury carousel, was a beloved family tradition for over 60 years before being sold off and moved to Santa Monica, California in 2019. The new addition of the pavilion and historic carousel, along with many other investment like the new Welcome Center, Comfort Station, and oceanfront boardwalk have brought back the magic of Salisbury Beach.