Boys and Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee receives $25,000 donation from United Community Bank
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – January 10, 2022 – When Eric Higgs first sat down with some of his teenage members in his newly-appointed role as CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee, it was May of 2020. The teens told him it was a scary time. Schools were closing, and many of their parents did not have the option to work from home. They had limited or no access to internet to even begin to do their schoolwork. Then they got the news that the Boys and Girls Clubs might also have to close.
“’Where are we gonna go?’ That’s what this group said to me,” said Higgs. “They needed us to be there, and so we pulled off a Herculean effort to make sure the clubs were safe and kept open as a resource for our kids.”
Higgs says donations during that time ebbed and flowed, but they fought, successfully, to keep their doors open for their kids.
When United Community Bank, a corporation based out of South Carolina, recently acquired Reliant Bank, United’s leaders had a goal: not just to keep Reliant’s ties in the community, but strengthen them.
John Wilson was one of their first phone calls. Wilson, a longtime Reliant employee, served on the Williamson County advisory board with Boys and Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee for more than 12 years.
When Wilson found out that his new employers wanted to keep his, and many of his colleagues’ work with this organization going, he felt it was a great example of the marriage of two companies with similar cultures working to come together for good.
“It shows that we’re going to keep building on something that we’ve worked hard for. It shows that United is committed to making sure our community and our boys and girls are getting the best support from all of us,” Wilson said.
United Community Bank Chairman and CEO Lynn Harton said, “Our people are what make us strong. We added a group of incredible people with huge hearts and a mindset that they want to make where they live, better. We just want to be a part of that. It’s that simple.”
The United Community Bank Foundation’s $25,000 donation will go immediately into action, Higgs said. They’ll put it to use in programs like Industry Clubs, intense eight-week job shadowing programs, where their teens follow a career professional around, learning about industry, hard work, and future careers.
“That $25,000 from United goes right into our expansion efforts to reach more youth and keep our doors open,” said Higgs. “I like that this company wants to come in and do this. They’re telling us, ‘We want to be locally relevant. We’re an organization of the community, we’re made up of people who are in that community, and we’re going to support them.”
About United Community Banks, Inc.
United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQGS: UCBI) provides a full range of banking, wealth management and mortgage services for relationship-oriented consumers and business owners. The company, known as “The Bank That SERVICE Built,” has been recognized nationally for delivering award-winning service. At September 30, 2021, United had $19.5 billion in assets and 171 offices in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee along with a national SBA lending franchise and a national equipment lending subsidiary. Through its October 1, 2021 acquisition of Aquesta and its wholly-owned banking subsidiary, Aquesta Bank, United added $754 million in assets and nine banking offices in high growth markets in North Carolina. In 2021, J.D. Power ranked United highest in customer satisfaction with retail banking in the Southeast, marking seven out of the last eight years United earned the coveted award. United was also named one of the “Best Banks to Work For” by American Banker in 2020 for the fourth year in a row based on employee satisfaction. Forbes included United in its inaugural list of the World’s Best Banks in 2019 and again in 2020. Forbes also recognized United on its 2021 list of the 100 Best Banks in America for the eighth consecutive year. United also received five Greenwich Excellence Awards in 2020 for excellence in Small Business Banking, including a national award for Overall Satisfaction. Additional information about United can be found at www.ucbi.com.
