Hunter business honours volunteers

Hunter business honours volunteers

The Hunter’ newest and only local bank and its charitable foundation have recognised their staff for their work to support the community on Friday, 13 May 206 during National Volunteers Week.

At a special ceremony at Greater Bank’s Newcastle headquarters, The Greater Charitable Foundation has awarded its annual Volunteer of the Year Award to Greater Bank Account Controller Andrew Frith. The award recognises a staff member who has gone above and beyond in their efforts to give back to their community.

Foundation CEO Anne Long was joined by Greater Bank CEO Scott Morgan to present Andrew’s award as well as awards to runners up Amy Dodd and Mark Davison.

Andrew, 29, from Port Stephens, has volunteered for Foundation partners since its inception in 2011. He first volunteered for the Inspire Foundation to assist in trialling an online mental health program. For the past four years he has volunteered as a mentor to young people with cerebral palsy. Each year Greater Bank staff are paired with a different young person and participate in 15 structured sessions and other activities run by Cerebral Palsy Alliance.

Amy is Greater Bank’s Raymond Terrace Branch Supervisor. The Clarence Town resident volunteers at the Autism Spectrum Australian (Aspect) playgroups at Thornton and Medowie, run as part of the Australian first Early Intervention Readiness Program (EIRP).

Mark Davison is Greater Bank’s Corporate Solicitor. The Lake Macquarie resident has volunteered as a mentor for three years in Cerebral Palsy Alliance mentoring programs.

A Special Commendation Award was also presented to Information Security Manager and Lake Macquarie resident Jeremy Andreani. Jeremy has volunteered as a mentor for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance programs for seven consecutive years. His volunteering has also seen him reach the final three in the individual category of the 2014 NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards.

Andrew received $500 to donate to his nominated charity, John Hunter Children’s Hospital, and a $100 gift card. Both runners up received $250 to donate to a charity and a $50 gift card.

Anne said an important part of the Foundation’s support was also providing Greater Bank staff to volunteer their services to charity partners to help improve the lives of local families and enhance communities. She said in the past 12 months, 170 Greater Bank employees have volunteered a total of more than 1,000 hours with one or more of the Foundation’s charity partners.

The Foundation is funded by Greater Bank profits. Scott paid tribute to his staff for their dedication to helping others and their community. He said while the financial institution had recently changed its name it was still customer-owned and focussed on community.

National Volunteer Week was 9-15 May 2016. For information on volunteering visit www.volunteeringaustralia.org

Image | Scott Morgan, Andrew Frith and Anne Long

Greater Bank

The customer-owned Greater Bank is Newcastle and the Hunter's only local bank.

It offers a greater kind of banking experience whether you're buying a home, saving, investing, paying the bills, insuring your possessions, travelling or planning for retirement - online, on the phone, at a local branch or through its national ATM network.

Greater Bank is experienced, safe and strong like the big banks.  The difference is it doesn't have shareholders so it's always focussed on customers and community.

Greater Bank's friendly, expert team has made it a winner of the national Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards three years running, with ratings as high as 97%.

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