First Farmers State Bank, in conjunction with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, announced immediate relief for not-for-profit organizations affected in their local communities. The four grant recipients include: Boys & Girls Club of Bloomington-Normal, Home Sweet Home Ministries, Common Ground and Minier Food Pantry. “The Federal Home Loan Bank gifted us the opportunity to give back during this critical time to our local communities” said Brian Schroeder, President & CEO at First Farmers State Bank.
“Through this partnership, we are able to continue to meet some of the basic needs of the youth in our community, said Tony Morstatter , Chief Executive Officer of Boys & Girls Club of Bloomington-Normal. “This gift from FFSB will allow us to continue to provide meals for area youth and fun, educational activity kits for them to complete while remaining safely at home.”
Marty Harper from Common Ground in Delavan, IL called the grant an “answered prayer”. He shared “We have exhausted most of our funds along with the PPP loan that we obtained and were at a point of deciding whether or not to shut down.”
Home Sweet Home Ministries provides safe shelter for some of the most vulnerable people in our community, ensuring their health and safety, and serving them three healthy meals every day. “We will use a portion of the funds to replace a donated food warmer that recently broke.” said Mary Ann Pullin, Chief Executive Officer. “Other funds will be used to purchase food, to make sure that our meals are well-balanced and healthy and to support staff wages.”
The Minier/Armington Share group provides a monthly food pantry, snack packs to Olympia West students and community assistance. Kris Loseke shared “We have already used the funds to augment our June Food pantry and contribute school supplies for our Back Pack event.”
Founded in 1875, First Farmers State Bank is an employee owned and customer focused full- service community bank with three locations in Bloomington, Delavan and Minier, IL. FFSB has delivered stable, secure banking, and have actively supported our Central Illinois communities for more than 140 years. Although “Farmers” is in our name—and we proudly continue serving local producers—we are a full-service community bank with products and services for all individuals and businesses.
