Still Local, Still Solid, Still Finding the Bright Moments in Life: Our 2020 in Review

As 2020 winds down to its final hours, it can prove to be challenging to find the good in the past 365 days. For us at Stillman Bank, the bright moments in our year will always come from serving our local communities. While this year was unusual to say the least, we are honored to have been able to support numerous community initiatives, especially when people needed it the most.

In the spirit of a new year, we have chosen to share 10 bright moments of our 2020, in hopes that this will cause a ripple effect in others to reflect on the positives in such a difficult year.

  1. We were awarded “Large Business of the Year” at the Stateline Chamber of Commerce Annual Gala in February.
  2. In March, we hosted a Casual Day for employees to raise money for the United Way of Rock River Valley COVID-19 Emerging Relief Fund. Between employee donations and the bank match, we were able to donate nearly $800 to the fund.
  3. Our employees were generous in April when we hosted another Casual Day to support our local food pantries. 65 employees participated in the day for a total of $900. With these funds, donations of $150 were made to six food pantries in our local communities.
  4. In partnership with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago and their COVID-19 Relief Grant Program, we announced our Stillman Bank “Stronger Together” campaign in May.
    With this campaign, we presented 20 of our local community organizations with a $1,000 contribution.
  5. We hosted a third employee Casual Day in August for Miss Carly’s. All employees were encouraged to make a monetary donation in any denomination they were comfortable with. Additionally, Stillman Bank made a matching gift for each employee that participated which brought our total donation to $1,146.00.
  6. We partnered with the Federal Home Loan of Chicago again in September where we announced our “Building Up The 815” campaign. With this campaign, we directed $5,000 to three non-profit organizations that are committed to assisting individuals and families with access to affordable housing resources.
  7. The REC Center in Rochelle was nearing completion in October and we announced our $20,000 contribution to this 91,000 square foot community space.
  8. The results were tableted in late fall for Ogle County Life and Rochelle News Leader 2020 Best of Ogle County Reader’s Choice contest and we were honored to be voted Best Local Bank, Best Lender, and Best Financial Advisor.
  9. We were recognized as a United Way of Rock River Valley Centennial Club member in October. This honor symbolizes the founding of United Way of Rock River Valley 101 years ago and recognizes organizations for making a big impact from collective contributions. For our 2019 bank-wide campaign, our employee monetary giving jumped nearly 12%, surpassing the 10% benchmark.
  10. In December, we continued our 56-year tradition by giving away 3 pork halves and 3 beef quarters bank-wide with our annual Holiday Giveaway.

We thank each and every one of our employees for being such strong advocates and you, our customers, for the continued support! In the end, at our core, we’re a hometown bank that for the past 138 years has truly been living, working, and investing in the betterment of the place we all call home. Here’s to continuing to look at the bright side in 2021!