FFB&T Newsroom

2010 Marks FFBT's 125th Anniversary!

This new year marks the 125th Anniversary of First Farmers Bank & Trust!  To celebrate, we are compiling information about the history of the bank, starting at the beginning with Mark Tully's Exchange Bank.  If you have any information or personal stories, pictures, or other memorabilia that you would like to share with us, please contact Mary Sutton at (800) 371-3316 or email [email protected].  We would love to hear from you and we look forward to the hearing the stories you or your family may have.  The information you share with us may be used in a publication that will be available later this year.

First Farmers Financial Corp Completes Acquisition of C.B. Bank Shares, Announces Corporate Earnings and Expansion of Corporate

Gene Miles, C.E.O. of First Farmers Financial Corp. and its principal subsidiary First Farmers Bank & Trust, announces that the acquisition of C.B. Bank Shares, Inc. (“CB”) and its principal subsidiary Central Bank, of Russiaville, Indiana was completed on Friday December 4, 2009. The offices of Central Bank in Russiaville and Kokomo have become branches of First Farmers Bank & Trust.

Commenting on the transaction, Mr. Miles stated: “We are very pleased that we have completed our transaction with Central Bank. We appreciate the efforts put forth by the officers, employees and board members at Central to facilitate the merger. We look forward to working with Central Bank’s officers and employees to continue serving the Russiaville and Kokomo communities.”

In addition, First Farmers Bank & Trust announces 3rd quarter financial results for the corporation and a planned expansion of the corporate offices in Converse. Earnings for the nine months ended September 30, 2009 were $6.0 million, or $3.40 per share, 6.3% ahead of 2008. A 7,700sq ft expansion is under construction to house expanded Information Technology and Bookkeeping departments. The area will include office space, a conference center, break room, restrooms, and technical areas for new mainframe systems and network server. Completion is expected by 2nd quarter of 2010.

Sheridan Branch of FFBT Helps Fund the Spicewood Garden Apartments

Noblesville—Thirty-one low-income senior families will be settling into their new, affordable apartments in Hamilton County before the cold Indiana winter begins. Hamilton County Area Neighborhood Development, Inc (HAND), a nonprofit community housing development organization based in Noblesville, has been working for years to get these apartments built for seniors throughout the county. Plum Tree Gardens in Noblesville, Indiana and Spicewood Garden Apartments in Sheridan, Indiana, are both independent living communities for seniors 55 and older. HAND held ribbon cuttings for both of the properties to mark their openings during the past month. Plum Tree and Spicewood are the first affordable rental housing options in the county provided by a community-based, mission-driven nonprofit organization.

Spicewood Garden Apartments is located west of State Road 38 and just north of 2nd Street in Sheridan and consists of 25 units and a community center. Both communities contain two-bedroom duplexes with covered front porches. Each apartment will have many details enabling residents to age in place, including accessibility features for those who cannot walk easily. Other amenities include washers and dryers, walk in closets, and two emergency call buttons in each apartment. Rents are affordable and are determined based upon resident income with a range from $305 and $550.

 

“At the openings, we were excited to show community members, funders, and partners around the apartments,” said Sage Hales, Director of HAND, “We are grateful for all of the community support that we received to serve the low-income senior population in both Noblesville and in Sheridan, and we wanted to show our supporters what everyone’s combined hard work created.”

Spicewood Gardens is funded through a combination of equity from the sale of low income housing tax credits to First Farmers Bank and Trust, Affordable Housing Program Funds through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis, HOME Partnership Program funds through the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, and Community Development Block Grant Funds through Hamilton County, and financing through P/R Mortgage and Merchants Bank of Indiana.

Both properties are also planning to obtain LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Silver Certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). In order to obtain LEED Silver Certification both the overall site and the individual homes contain environmentally friendly features. Some of these features include the use of native plants in the landscaping and energy efficient fixtures and materials. Plum Tree Gardens and Spicewood Garden Apartments will become two of the first LEED Silver affordable multi-family developments in the State of Indiana upon certification. “We believe that it is important for HAND to build energy efficient apartments - not only to benefit the environment, but to help keep residents’ utility costs low. Many of our residents are on fixed incomes and the lower utility costs are a huge benefit to them,” said Sage Hales, Director of HAND.

First Farmers Bank & Trust is proud to be able to help the communities of Sheridan and Hamilton County and support the efforts of HAND in these communities. According to Brian Bragg, "the apartments at Spicewood were exceptionally nice, and it's important to be able to offer affordable housing to seniors in our community."

 

Wabash Branch Donates Flag to Wabash County Historical Museum

During the Wabash County 4H Fair, the Wabash branch of FFBT, along with Bob Hettmansperger of Ag Adventures, Bob Land, Land for Sheriff, and Todd Adams, Todd Adams State Farm Agency, donated a flag to the Wabash County Historical Society. SPC Charles Hunt took the flag into battle with him, then donated the flag to the fair for proceeds to go to the building fund. He presented the flag to the museum, and Paul Bergman accepted the flag on behalf of the museum. The event took place at Northfield High school while they were honoring veterans. First Farmers Bank & Trust is proud to be able to help the Wabash community and be an integral part of the history of the area.

News from the Sheridan Branch

The Sheridan Chamber of Commerce recently held their Annual Dinner at the Palomino Ballroom. During the event, they give an award presented to a community business. For 2009, First Farmers Bank & Trust received the Sheridan Chamber Appreciation Award for Outstanding Dedication and Devotion. We are very excited and thankful to receive this award from the Chamber!

In other Sheridan news, the Sheridan Harvest 5K was held on October 3rd at Biddle Memorial Park. Brian Bragg, branch manager at our Sheridan office, helps to organize this event every year, which runs concurrently with the Sheridan Harvest Moon Festival. The race is open to both walkers and runners and there is also a corporate challenge. In 2008, FFBT won this challenge. Brian and Keith Hill, Chief Financial Officer, participated in the event this year for FFBT. Brian stated, "The 5K had a great turnout this year with 105 runners and was a huge success."

All of the proceeds from the event go to the upkeep of the Sheridan portion of the Monon Trail.

Michelle Boyd is usually a participant in the Sheridan 5K, but she was focused on something else this year: the Chicago Marathon! She ran in the race on October 11th with a time of 4 hours, 29 minutes, and 14 seconds.

Peru River Announces the Winner of the iPod Giveaway

After a month of guessing, the results are in. In order to win the iPod, visitors of the Peru River branch had to guess the amount of money in dimes that were in a container (shown on the right). The person with the closest guess without going over would win the iPod. The amount in the container was $371.20, and the closest guess was $365, and was guessed by Anna Williams. Very close!

She picked up the iPod at the beginning of November with her son D'Andre. They were both VERY excited about winning (see left!).

Along with the month long opportunity to guess, the bank also held drawings twice each day for the first 10 days of the month in honor of their 10 year anniversary.

Jayson Hall, Wally Wollenhaupt, Kendra Pitts, Jim Townsend, Karen LeMaster, Carol Blohm, Alice Allman, Nancy Briner, Tami Tschianck, Micah Duncan, Linda Graber, Michelle Hewitt, and David Jones were the lucky winners of the daily drawings. The winners received a gift among many options: Personal coffee makers, a folding step stool, popcorn maker, duffel bags, and coolers.

The Peru River Branch wants to thank everyone who came out in October to celebrate their anniversary with them and look forward to many more!

Wabash Celebration of Light to be Held November 20th

Don't forget!! The Celebration of Light is taking place next Friday!

Jennifer McConahay, Customer Service Representative, and Liz Calhoun from First Farmers Bank and Trust, prepared the candy canes for Santa to pass out at the Celebration of Light. The Celebration of Light will be held on November 20th at 6:00 pm on the courthouse steps. Cindy Flannigan and daughters will lead the attendees in Christmas Carols, and Santa will arrive by fire truck as the lights are lit on the courthouse. Santa will then proceed to Modoc's Market where children can visit with Santa and have their picture taken with him. The Manchester Symphony will be in attendance to play for the visitors at Modoc's while Santa is there.

If you've never been to this event before, consider 2009 to be a first! Join First Farmers employees at this event. For more information, contact the Wabash branch of FFBT at (260) 563-1196.

FFBT and Employees Participate in Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

First Farmers Bank & Trust participated in a unique event that generated national publicity recently as it partnered with Hallmark Homes and a variety of other vendors to help host ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. FFBT was a monetary sponsor of the event and several FFBT employees donated their time and skills to the project over the course of the 8 day building in Bunker Hill. A number of long hours were spent in poor weather conditions at various activities including food service, painting, cleaning, building, and transporting materials. Participants said it was an incredible experience to witness and be a part of that they would never forget. FFBT is proud of the dedication of staff to volunteer their time and abilities to help such a worthy family. Several FFBT clients also helped in the build, some spending more than 24 hours continuously at the build site. Employees also visited the site throughout the week as spectators and several were able to represent the bank at the wrap up party on Tuesday night.

FFBT Donates to Susan G Komen Foundation and National Lee Denim Day

For the past several years, First Farmers Bank & Trust has supported the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the Lee National Denim Day. Employees have the option of contributing funds to the effort in exchange for a casual jeans day. This year, Denim Day took place on Oct 9th and all 18 branches participated. Overall, First Farmers employees raised $1282 and the Bank donated $350 for a total donation of $1632 to be split between the two organizations. The two branches that contributed the most funds were Converse and Culver. Great job!

Cancer awareness and research funding remains an important part of community outreach for the Greentown branch of FFBT. The staff hosts several events throughout the year for supporting Relay for Life including, a Walk, a Motorcycle Ride, and a cookbook sale containing customer & employee recipes. For more information on these events or cookbook order information, please visit our FFBT Facebook page.

Order Your Relay for Life Cookbook Today to Support Greentown's Efforts

The Greentown Branch employees are proud sponsors of “Relay for Life”. The American Cancer Society “Relay For Life’ represents “ The hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those facing cancer will be supported, and that one day cancer will be eliminated.”

Wherever you look, it seems that someone has been touched by this devastating disease. Whether it be a loved one, a friend, or neighbor we all know someone who is struggling to survive, or has been taken from us, by this deadly disease. Cancer does not discriminate. Whether you are a child or adult, healthy or unhealthy, Cancer doesn’t care. “Relay For Life” has always been a special project for the Greentown Branch but even more so this year. This time it struck the FFBT family in Greentown, not once but twice. Thanks to regular screenings, ½ of all new cancer diagnosis can be prevented or detected early.

The true spirit of our dedication and passion for “Relay For Life” can be seen in our fund-raising efforts in the past 11 years. Our fundraising efforts have grown from bake sales and lunches to motorcycle rides, a community walk, and cookbooks. Our goal is to raise as much money as possible to help with the Fight For a Cure!!! This cookbook is just another example of our community coming together to support one another!

To order a cookbook, which is filled with 164 recipes of appetizers, desserts, and beverages, contact the Greentown branch at (765) 628-3309. Each cookbook is $10, with all proceeds going to benefit Relay for Life, and all recipes were submitted by Greentown customers and employees.