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Baylake Bank Leaders Join Forces for Community Volunteering Project

January 16, 2010--Baylake Bank financial center managers recently joined together to volunteer at a local homeless shelter, spending a morning completing tasks such as cleaning and organizing, putting together informational packets, and hanging window coverings.

The idea for the cooperative effort came about during discussions about holiday gift exchanges, when the group decided to give to the community rather than each other. “After discussing the economy and the number of people who are currently unemployed, the group felt one direct way to make a difference was to commit time to helping the community,” said Michelle Knaus, Baylake Bank Director of Retail for the bank’s Bay Region.

They elected to volunteer at St. John the Evangelist Homeless Shelter (SJEHS)*, which provides temporary emergency shelter for adults. “We were impressed with SJEHS’s emphasis on the fact that all people have the right to meet their basic human needs for food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. The shelter offers assistance with a context of dignity, providing access to the resources people need to survive during the harsh winter months we experience in this area,” said Samantha Rodriguez, Baylake Bank West De Pere Financial Center Manager.

One former shelter guest shared her appreciation: “I was homeless for eight months, and I wish people could understand what a homeless person goes through, not having a home or having your children with you, the degrading feeling and how it hurts so much … I’m not an alcoholic or drug dealer. But I now have an apartment of my own, and all I want to say to those who helped me out is thanks a million.”

Baylake Bank serves its communities from 28 financial centers in Brown, Door, Green Lake, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Outagamie, Waupaca, and Waushara counties and from its website at www.baylake.com. For more information call (920) 743-5551 or 1-800-267-3610.