On Saturday, May 31^st you can help benefit the Idaho Foodbank by attending the Wine Walk at Bogus Creek Ranch. The walk is from 3:00-6:00 pm and will feature at least 36 different wines to try. At your leisure you will stroll the grounds and enjoy the wine tasting. They’ll have plenty of water, bread and cheese for you to indulge in along with your vino. At 6:00 the dinner, wine discussion and dancing begins! Enjoy a dinner of slow roasted carved sirloin and grilled salmon and finish the evening dancing the night away. Bogus Creek Ranch expects around 500 people at this year’s event and tickets are already selling, so if you’re interested call them at 887-7880. The ticket price is $46 per person plus a can of food. Advance registration is required. 

If you have no plans tomorrow, you might want to take advantage of the sunny weather and take your family out to the Avimor Foothills Festival. At 7:00 a.m. they will kick off with free hot air balloon rides, hay rides, face painting and free BBQ from 11:00-2:00. Live music and performances by local artists will include bluegrass bands and bagpipe groups. A sheep dog herding competition will be held at 2:00 p.m. at the field north of the Village Center. The festival is free and open to the public and was created to help teach more about the history of Spring Valley Ranch. Directions: From State St. (Hwy. 44), take Hwy. 55 north, one mile past Shadow Valley Golf Course. Avimor main entrance will be on your right.  For more information, call 208.939.5360 or visit Avimor.com. 

At Idaho Trust we have created a monthly award to help recognize the staff members who go above and beyond to positively impact Idaho Trust. This program is called the Best in the Business Award. 

The person awarded the very first Best in the Business Award is someone who is always willing to help others, but on one particular day she went out of her way to help a fellow staff member with a client need.  This staff member stopped what she was doing and with a wonderful attitude assisted with a client project that needed to happen right then.  Not only was the task completed immediately, but it was done correctly and with a smile.  Even though it wasn’t a hard task, it was still an interruption and not something this person had to take on.  She could have sat at her desk and said nothing when she heard the request—but she didn’t.  This event took 2 people from different departments working in the best interest of a client—great teamwork! We are proud to have on our Idaho Trust Team, the winner of this month’s Best in the Business, Connie Haycock.

1. “The Guy That Says Goodbye to You� – Griffin House (Hilary Clay, Asst. to the CEO)
2. “Girls in their Summer Clothes� – Bruce Springsteen (Donna Abbot, Client Concierge)
3. “Amazed� – Lonestar (Paul Stewart, Investment Associate)
4. “Hey There, Delilah� – Plain White T’s (Dalton Routh, Controller)
5. “Number 41� – Dave Matthews Band (Kenn Lamson, Chief Investment Officer)
6. “The Right Time� – Ray Charles (Lanie Compton, Assistant to the President)
7. “The Way I Am� – Ingrid Michaelson (Desiree Prohaska, Private Banker)
8. “Jamaica Say You Will� – Jackson Browne (Mike Thomas, Idaho Trust Investments)
9. “Tied Down� – Colbie Caillat  (Leah Raymond, Client Concierge)
10. “Heartbreaker� – Pat Benatar (Racheal Peterson, Teller)

Idaho Trust’s own Lanie Compton has been selected as one of the 2008 Women of the Year. Many of you have had the opportunity to meet Lanie and I’m sure you would all agree that she is very deserving of the acknowledgment. I personally have been blessed to work closely with her over the last year and have been truly touched by her grace and the way she lives her life. In addition to her many volunteer contributions to our community, Lanie is an incredible team member within our organization. Her professionalism, work ethic and drive to not only succeed herself but also to help others achieve their goals is unmatched. On behalf of Idaho Trust, I would like to congratulate Lanie on this recognition and thank her for giving so much of herself to the people around her. 

While I was on iTunes.com the other day I was drawn to the celebrity playlists - for some reason I was really interested to see what my favorite celebs have been listening to. As a result we have created an Idaho Trust Playlist. Now you can see what our staff is listening to and maybe find a new favorite. We hope you enjoy our selections.

1. “There’s Hope” - India Arie (Michelle Martin, Sr. Bank Operations Officer)
2. “Lookin for a Job” - Todd Snider (Mike Thomas, Idaho Trust Investments)
3. “The Dog Song” - Nellie McKay (Kenn Lamson, Chief Investment Officer
4. “City” - Sara Barreilles (Leah Raymond, Client Concierge)
5. “I’ll Be There For You” - Jon Bon Jovi (Melissa Pruitt, Operations Officer)
6. “Going to California” - Led Zeppelin (Cheryl Quinney, Operations)
7. “Old Fashioned Love Song” - Three Dog Night (Lanie Compton, Asst. to the President)
8. “What a Wonderful World” - Louis Armstrong (Paul Stewart, Investment Associate)
9. “1234″ - Feist (Paula Putnam, Sr. Trust Assistant)
10. “Magnolias Room” - Anthony Hamilton (Thomas Prohaska, President)
11. “Do You Remember Me?” - Jill Scott (Kari Saccomanno, Facilities Director)
12. “Apologize” - Timbaland featuring OneRepublic (Dalton Routh, Controller)
13. “Back to Black” - Amy Winehouse (Tiffany Leitzke, Trust Assistant)
14. “Breathe Me” - Sia (Hilary Clay, Asst. to the CEO)

When a business client of ours set up his accounts with us, he wished we were in California too. He has operations there as well as Idaho and needed a way to make deposits into his Idaho Trust account. Fortunately, we have Ardy. We sent a representative to our client’s California office armed with Ardy and she got everything set up so they can now make deposits into their Idaho Trust account. It’s just another reason why we are the Best Business Bank in the Business. 

It is time, once again, for the annual Chocolate & Diamonds fundraising event at the Discovery Center. I’ve been looking forward to it ever since last year when we attended for the first time. It’s a gorgeous evening filled with chocolate and diamonds, of course. The valley’s best chocolatiers and pastry chefs will have another battle for the title of “Boise’s Best Chocolatier� and the best thing about it is that we get to taste their contest entries. Equally exciting, if not more so, is the diamond raffle. For $25 you can enter the raffle which boasts a beautiful diamond as the grand prize, courtesy of Ben Bridge Jewelers. Ladies, what could be better than a night of unlimited chocolate and a whole lot of bling? The event is on February 1st at 6:30 p.m. and to buy tickets you can call the Discovery Center at 343-9895 or visit www.scidaho.org. 

The employees at Idaho Trust decided to sponsor a family in need this year for Christmas. In addition to our Toys for Tots contributions we donated money and gifts to our family, a single disabled mother and her two children. Our staff is incredibly generous and we were able to provide them with everything on their Christmas lists. It was a great feeling to see the excitement and appreciation on their faces as they saw us unloading their beautifully wrapped presents. After they each opened a gift the daughter sang us a touching song that she had written for her mother. I had never experienced such a fulfilling moment. Thank you to our Idaho Trust staff for helping create a wonderful Christmas for our family. 

Instead of exchanging gifts with each other this year, the Idaho Trust staff held a Toys for Tots gift exchange. We each drew the name of a fellow co-worker and bought a toy that we thought best represented that person. On Friday morning we held an exchange party and unwrapped our toys. It was a lot of fun to see what our associates picked for each other! When it was all over we donated the toys to Toys for Tots and filled our box all the way to the top. It was a unique way to celebrate the holidays in the office and also benefit children who will truly appreciate the toys this season.