First Financial Foundation recently donated $10,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of Seymour for COVID-19 relief efforts.
The donation is part of the foundation’s $1 million pledge to fund relief efforts for communities that have been impacted economically by the coronavirus.
The Boys and Girls Club of Seymour is providing food relief to the community while also offering child care to those in need, especially for first responders.
“Thank you so much to First Financial for this support. I appreciate it, and I know the families we are serving appreciate it, as well,” said Ryon Wheeler, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Seymour. “When it comes to the First Financial Foundation grant, we were blessed where timing and resources aligned to help benefit our kids and community.”
The club had been in contact with the foundation prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.
“When the outbreak did occur, we were able to explain how at the time, we were the only youth-serving option available to families of essential workers,” he said. “Furthermore, the increased costs of expanding our hours from four hours per day to 11 hours per day creates increased expenses.”
Wheeler said they also added an extra hour of cleaning each day at the club, which results in extra costs too.
“We are redesigning how our program looks, and that has taken extra resources, as well,” Wheeler said.
The First Financial Foundation supports programs and organizations that strengthen and develop the communities in which First Financial Bank does business. It also focuses on the priorities of neighborhood development, workforce development and education, culture and the arts.
“Our teams are deeply embedded in the communities of Seymour and Jackson County,” said Roddell McCullough, director of community development for First Financial Bank. “They reached out to organizations that they knew would help the community to persevere through this crisis.”
McCullough said at the onset of the pandemic, several of their existing community partners reached out to them to share their COVID-19 activities and request support. They were happy to be able to help them, he said.
“First Financial is committed to helping those who are struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Archie Brown, president and chief executive officer of First Financial Bank. “We are eager to support the outstanding community organizations and nonprofits in our area who are demonstrating tremendous resilience by delivering critical assistance during such a difficult time.”
In addition to funding from the foundation, First Financial has announced its Hardship Relief Program, in which it is helping consumers, small businesses and commercial clients who are being affected by the coronavirus.
Consumers can request to defer payments on loans and credit cards. Business and commercial clients also can request to make interest-only payments or defer payments.
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For information about First Financial Bank’s COVID-19 relief options, visit bankatfirst.com.
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