Merchants Bancorp is proud to support and build a safe environment for our employees, clients, families and fellow members of our community. To do so, we provide ample opportunities for our employees to give back by volunteering their time to help others. The company offers each employee 16 PTO hours per year to use toward service. Launched in 2018, our MPACT Program supports the initiative of Positively Advancing Communities Together to make an “MPACT” in the communities where our employees live and work.
On May 15, we hosted our 2019 MPACT Awards, honoring our dedicated employees and recognizing them for their invaluable service. Due to stay-at-home orders and the majority of our staff working from home, we had to postpone our original awards reception and instead conduct the ceremony virtually.
During our video call, we named five 2019 MPACT Catalyst Award winners, all selected from various markets for their specific volunteer efforts in the program. Each Catalyst winner receives a cash award and will receive their commemorative trophy once the honorees are back in the office.
2019 CATALYST AWARD WINNERS
- Mark Harville (Merchants Bank, Indianapolis, IN)
- Sara Carreno (Merchants Mortgage, Carmel, IN)
- Melinda Murphy (Merchants Bank, Richmond, IN)
- Patty Wilson (Farmers-Merchants Bank, Paxton, IL)
- Toni Gilbert (Merchants Capital, Saint Paul, MN)
2019 VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR
Following our Catalyst winner announcements, we honored Aretha Hutchins (Merchants Capital, Carmel) as our 2019 Volunteer of the Year – awarding her with a commemorative trophy and a surprise cash award. A previous 2018 Catalyst winner, Aretha earned the top prize for her incredible service throughout the year. Aretha frequently supported organizations that provide affordable housing to low-income areas, volunteered to support those struggling with homelessness, and personally taught financial literacy classes to youth living in low-income neighborhoods.
In 2019, our employees logged a total of 1,100 volunteer hours in the communities we serve. More than 500 of those hours were put towards the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), a federal regulation designed to encourage commercial banks and savings associations to help meet the needs of borrowers in all segments of their communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
Highlights from the year included distributing 280 backpacks full of school supplies to children living in Braeburn Village Apartments; working with Habitat for Humanity for home build projects in the King Park neighborhood in Indianapolis; donating food, blankets, Christmas gifts and more to the Horizon House in Indianapolis; serving meals at St. Vincent House to those dealing with financial hardship while coping with seriously ill loved ones; Lee Oller being recognized as the No.1 fundraiser for the Chicago Habitat for Humanity Women Build event; a fall cleanup project in Saint Paul, Minnesota for an AEON affordable housing project; service projects to help residents of Village of Merici, an apartment community that provides residential and supported living for adults with development disabilities; and much more.
Every day we value our commitment to our community. Thank you to all of our Merchants employees for your dedicated service!
