Brand Story – How do you define community?
According to Merriam-Webster, it is “a unified body of individuals: such as: the people with common interests living in a particular area.” For more than 90 years, Heritage Bank’s belief is that their communities grow stronger when banks and neighbors work together.
In addition to providing financial services to the communities Heritage Bank serves, it also encourages everyone on the team to participate in their communities by sharing their time. The bank also provides additional support in the form of corporate contributions.
This model is in action every day. I see how generous our employees are with their volunteer time, how well-known in their communities, the positive impact of their hard work, and how our corporate contributions help to support those communities.
As Heritage Bank continues to grow through acquisitions and organic growth, so will its charitable giving in the region — focusing on business and economic development, education and youth development, civic benefits, and health and human services. We are dedicated to supporting those that need it the most: youth, low-income individuals, and the military and veterans by investing in longer-term, higher-impact projects where there is a measurable result.
We have partnered with the Tacoma Housing Authority to open a new limited-hours office at the Family Investment Center in the Salishan community. Together, they are sponsoring a flagship financial literacy program called the Salishan Children’s Saving Account Program, which helps students (and their families) prepare financially to go to college by setting up bank-sponsored savings accounts, incentive programs and financial literacy courses.
Through an ongoing program committed to serving the community called Heritage Helps, employees participate in a variety of bank-wide initiatives including a yearly food drive. More than 50,000 non-perishable food items were collected for children during the summer school break with key community partners Emergency Food Network, Northwest Harvest and Oregon Food Bank.
The most recent acquisition in Portland has allowed our bank to extend its footprint by funding nonprofits that provide civil legal services to low-income Oregonians as well as financing a mixed-use, three-story building that offers affordable housing in Cornelius, just southwest of Portland.
There is a very collaborative culture at Heritage Bank — each person brings something unique and that is valuable to its communities.
Learn how to grow your business with Heritage Bank.
Jeff Deuel is the president and chief executive officer at Heritage Bank. Deuel joined Heritage in 2010 and has more than 28 years of banking experience with companies like JPMorgan Chase, Bank United, First Union Bank, CoreStates Bank, and First Pennsylvania Bank.
About Heritage Bank – Heritage Financial Corporation, an Olympia-based bank holding company with Heritage Bank, a Washington state-chartered full-service commercial bank, as its sole wholly-owned banking subsidiary. Heritage Bank has a network of 65 banking offices serving customers in Washington and Oregon and traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “HFWA.”
