Members of 1st Source Bank and La Porte High School's Junior Achievement of Michiana student program were on hand to celebrate the presentation of a $10,000 grant to Junior Achievement. The grant was presented during the school's personal finance classes which were also being taught by members of 1st Source Bank.
This check was given to La Porte High School's Junior Achievement program as a means to provide more JA Personal Finance courses for area students as well as allowing for additional opportunities for students to participate in Junior Achievement's BizTown and FinancePark programming.
"I think we're more than just a bank," said 1st Source Bank's Dedicated Senior Lender Mark Manering, who along with Business Banker Patrick Spence presented the donation to students. "We're also a community organization that wants to help out and give back to our youth because our youth will be replacing us someday and we need to focus on what is important for our community's future."
Along with this donation, 1st Source Bank also announced that they will donate $1 to Junior Achievement for every $2 contributed. This will continue up to a $75,000 limit for both 2016 and 2017. These funds will be distributed to all of Junior Achievement's La Porte County programs as well as six other counties within the region.
"The financial background we provide to these students is incredible. We're teaching real life examples," said Spence. "'Whether it's about what it means to pay for a house or to buy a car, these are real life examples that we are teaching these kids and they matter quite a lot."
For members of Junior Achievement, this presented an exciting opportunity for students to work together with an established financial institution and have the chance to gain even more economic education through more lessons on workforce readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy.
"It's so important to get a perspective that is different from their teachers," said Junior Achievement of Michiana Director Beth Harsch. "Being a teacher in the classroom is a bit limited. Once you bring in a business person they can give real life examples of what their days consist of, and what steps it took to get them to that current position they are in."
For 1st Source Bank, this presents another exciting opportunity to work with the communities they serve and present themselves as more than just a financial institution, but rather an organization that believes in the well-being and importance of a strong community beyond the financial realm.
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