FFB&T Newsroom

Ken Perkins Receives ISA’s Beyond the Fence Award

On December 18th, Ken Perkins, Senior Commercial Lender at First Farmers Bank & Trust, was presented with the Beyond the Fence Award for Outstanding Industry Support during the Livestock Forum at Lucas Oil Stadium.

This award is presented to individuals and organizations that go ‘beyond the fence’ to support Indiana’s livestock industry. According to the Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA), Ken has been a voice of reason for and has served to support the livestock industry at many county meetings throughout the state. Feel free to give Ken a call or stop by the Peru Square branch to help First Farmers congratulate Ken on this achievement.

Celebration of Light

On November 21st, First Farmers Bank & Trust, along with the city of Wabash and the County of Wabash, held and sponsored the annual Celebration of Light on the north courthouse steps. First Farmers Bank & Trust became involved in this event after the event was almost cancelled due to sponsorship issues. Kathy Jones, branch manager at the FFBT Wabash location, announced that she would help sponsor the event, and the Celebration of Light was saved.

This year, Jennifer McConahay, FFBT Customer Service Representative from Wabash, emceed the event, Emily Perkins led holiday carols, Theresa Carroll gave a holiday message, and Bob Vanlandingham, the Mayor of Wabash, talked about the Celebration and began the lighting ceremony. During the ceremony, Bob lit his candle, then proceeded to light the City Counsel’s candles as well. After the whole crowd’s candles were lit, the courthouse Christmas lights turned on above.

After the courthouse was lit, Santa Claus showed up in a fire truck and passed candy canes out to all of the children. According to Kathy Jones, “My biggest thrill of the entire celebration is when I hear the siren of the fire truck bringing Santa to the celebration to see all of the kids.”

First Farmers Bank & Trust and the staff at Wabash enjoy sponsoring and participating in this wonderful holiday event each year, and are already looking forward to next year!

Helping Schools in the Community

Employees at First Farmers Bank & Trust are dedicated to teaching local students in the community. Whether through Junior Achievement, Reading Railroad, or other types of participation, our employees spend time each year teaching students of all ages about personal financing, identity theft protection, credit, the economy, world trade, budgeting, and many other topics.

Junior Achievement is an organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness. It provides a structured curriculum to follow, but also leaves room for volunteers to provide their own experiences. They assign these volunteers to specific classrooms and specific times. Amy Million, Amanda Schmidt, and Jennifer Van Horn all volunteer their time to Peru High School. This year, one topic taught at Peru High School was about career aspirations and the requirements for each position. On the first day of class, the students wrote down what they wanted their career to be. After learning about skills, goals, values, and ethics that are involved in each career, many of the students changed their minds by the end of the course. By breaking down each part of a career, many were able to find a career that they had a significant interest in. Amanda Schmidt, HR Benefits Specialist at our Peru office, states, “This program was very beneficial for the students, especially at this age. Most of these students are at a point in their lives where they are just starting to think about the real world. The hands-on activities and shared experiences from volunteers penetrate their minds and get them to think more in-depth about their future.”

Beth Tilley, Jennifer McConahay, Deb Ploss, Greg Thompson, and Bruce Shanks also volunteer their time to Junior Achievement at schools in the area. Beth has volunteered at Tri-Central High School. The basis of her curriculum was product development. The students were asked to create and name a company, and then come up with a product to market and sell. They were required to make enough money in sales to pay for company operations and the remainder was given to a charity of the students’ choice. They were also asked to elect a President, Vice President, Treasurer, etc for the company and had to set up a bank account to manage their funds. Jennifer volunteers her time at Northfield Middle School, teaching 6th graders about world trade and 8th graders about budgeting. Bruce has volunteered at Knox High School for the past two years. The focus of his curriculum has been on personal finance for junior and senior students. Greg Thompson has volunteered at Liberty Elementary School, teaching 6th graders about economic principles and current economic conditions.

While many employees are volunteers for Junior Achievement, some of our employees, such as Deb Ploss, Joyce Flick, and Jodi Cecil volunteer for other educational purposes. Every month, Deb reads to 1st graders at Galveston Elementary through the Reading Railroad Program. Joyce and Jodi visit Eastern School Corporation several times each year and teach a variety of topics. Most recently, they taught several classes from 7th grade through the senior classes in conjunction with the ABA Education Foundation’s ‘Teach Children About Credit Day’. For the high school students, Joyce and Jodi discussed why credit is important in your life. They also covered what to expect when you open a checking account, and how to protect yourself from identity theft. For 7th and 8th graders, they discussed the Federal Reserve, inflation, and how U.S currency is protected against counterfeiters.

The employees volunteer their time to local schools because they thoroughly enjoy teaching students something that isn’t often taught in a classroom setting. They love listening to students’ ideas and answering any questions that come up. But mostly, they enjoy the looks on students’ faces when they see that something has made sense and that they have learned something new.