Thanking The Volunteers

Newtown Savings Bank employees and officers put down their checkbooks and closed business ledgers Wednesday and stepped outside to celebrate.

Arriving at the main branch on Main Street early in the afternoon were guests from the Volunteer Center serving Western Connecticut — stepping out of the Volunteer Van April 30 with a burst of red, white, and blue, hats, Uncle Sam, and a sincere message of thanks for the thousands of hours of volunteer time contributed to the community by bank personnel in the last year.

Volunteer Center representatives spent time this week, National Volunteer Week, visiting local businesses to honor their volunteerism efforts. Awards, giveaways, refreshments, and laughter filled the afternoon. Bank President and Chief Operating Officer John F. Trentacosta joined Volunteer Center Executive Director Patti Cohen-Hecht to congratulate and thank the staff for a calculated 234,120 volunteer hours of time donated to the community in the last year.

National Volunteer Week reflects the power that volunteers have to “inspire by example,” as Ms Cohen-Hecht wrote in an e-mail this week. Volunteers both encourage those they help, and motivate others to serve, she said. She wishes to acknowledge and thank the thousands of volunteers already giving service, and hopes to encourage new volunteers to join them.