Going to Towne in Central Virginia!

TowneBank Celebrates Annual Day of Caring

TowneBank is a longtime supporter of Day of Caring, a national event through the United Way that collaborates with volunteers, advocates, and donors across 1,100 communities. In the fall of 2023, TowneBank helped coordinate and recruit volunteers to serve 14 nonprofit agencies across our footprint in North Carolina and Virginia.

The Towne family in Richmond once again partnered with the local United Way on two projects focused on increasing access to educational resources for children. Volunteers helped restock books at Little Free Libraries at Mosby Court Apartments, a public housing community in downtown Richmond. The United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg has built, installed, and stocked 17 Little Free Libraries throughout the community, each containing an assortment of books for all reading levels to help families build their at-home book supply. “Creating access to learning resources outside of the classroom is critical. The Little Free Library program makes books available in strategic, easy-to-find spots,” says Pam Carnahan, assistant vice president and regional portfolio administrator. “The United Way provides the books but relies on volunteers to help maintain the supply at each location.” 

Keeping up with tradition, the Richmond team also gathered at the United Way Richmond office to help pack and decorate literacy kits for students heading into kindergarten. Kits contain school supplies and age-appropriate books, as well as reading resources and information for families. “Our Literacy Kit initiative supplies more than 2,000 early education students with access to school supplies at critical times,” says Tiffani Beissel, volunteer manager at the United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg. “The fall delivery helps students remain well-stocked on much-needed items after the back-to-school rush. The Towne family helped pack these critical supply kits and used their creativity to make them fun for the kids to receive!” 

In Chesterfield, the Towne family partnered with Communities in Schools Chesterfield (CIS-C) to purchase and assemble snack kits for students at Hening Elementary School. The kits included items like Goldfish, crackers, granola bars, water, and a handwritten note of encouragement. A total of 50 kits were assembled and hand-delivered to Hening Elementary School, one of the newest site locations for CIS-C, thanks in part to a recent grant from the TowneBank Foundation. “The support from TowneBank allowed us to initiate services at Hening Elementary, as well as Carver Middle School,” says Ashley Hall, CIS-C executive director. “It also supports our growth and sustainability of these and future CIS-C sites. With the addition of these newly added schools, CIS-C now serves 13,000 students at 13 schools throughout the Chesterfield County Public School system.”

Hats off to our Richmond and Chesterfield Towne families for bringing our culture of caring to life! Learn more about The United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg and Communities in Schools Chesterfield at their websites, YourUnitedWay.org and CISofChesterfield.org.