The American Red Cross sponsored a blood drive yesterday here at Idaho Trust. Around 12 employees and a few clients signed up to donate. From everyone who has ever received blood when they needed it, thank you to those who are willing to make the small sacrifice to help fill such a tremendous need. We’ll definitely do this again next year! If you’d like information about how you can donate now, please visit www.redcrossidaho.org. 

Idaho Trust has joined the city of Boise softball league. We won our first game last week by a landslide, and we play again tonight at Sunset Park at 6:15 p.m. You’re welcome to watch and cheer us on! Please call Leah for directions at (208) 350-2017. We hope to see you there. 

Through the YMCA, Idaho Trust is participating in 2009’s Wellness Cup! The goal is to improve the overall health of each participating employee and then be measured against the success of other area businesses. The business with the most improvement will win the Cup! We began the challenge on Monday, January 5^th with a kickoff presentation and then everyone was weighed and measured. During this time we’ll be concentrating on drinking a lot of water, eating healthier meals and expending more energy! It is our hope that as a staff we will create healthy, lifelong habits that will improve our quality of life at the workplace and also at home. (Oh, and we kind of want to win! ) We have two more weigh-ins before the grand finale. Good luck, Idaho Trust! 

Idaho Trust has a team of people who serve lunch at the River of Life Rescue Mission 3 Fridays a month. The mission served about 239,000 meals last year.  They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner 365 days a year at three different locations.  Our volunteers come from the Trust, Accounting, Operations and Loan departments and we serve with men from the Recovery Program and other volunteers.  We serve between 130 - 150 people every week.  We have been doing it for about a month and plan to continue through the end of the year. Those we serve have been very appreciative.  We leave feeling very thankful for our lives and for the ability to volunteer in this capacity.  Idaho Trust is so pleased to be a part of this ministry and giving back to the community in this way!

Idaho Trust recently hosted our second annual company picnic at Tully Park in Meridian. Our staff and their families gathered for an afternoon to enjoy each other’s company outside of the bank. In addition to the delicious food catered by Smoky Davis, this year we had two competitions – one physical and one of the culinary kind. Our dessert contest had four entries which included homemade apple pie, no-bake chocolate cookies, orange-chocolate cheesecake and peanut butter pie. After some serious deliberation our judging panel selected Racheal Peterson’s peanut butter pie as the winning treat. The second competition was a co-ed, all ages softball game. Teams were divided according to university loyalty to either Boise State or the University of Idaho. They competed in the 100 + degree weather for about an hour, and after a suspenseful game the Boise State team took home the trophy and bragging rights for the rest of the year. It was a fun afternoon and we will definitely be doing it again next year. 

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.

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. 

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. 

The Idaho Trust offices feature beautiful, contemporary décor thanks to Sprague Solution, a design firm specializing in commercial interior design. The American Society of Interior Designers Intermountain Chapter recently recognized them for their work at Idaho Trust and awarded them first place in their annual competition. Sprague also won second place for a project in Meridian. We would like to congratulate Sprague and thank them for creating a beautiful work environment for the staff at Idaho Trust.