Catholic Charities honors The Bank of Princeton with Corporate Citizen Award
Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton will honor The Bank of Princeton with its Corporate Citizen Award at the 30th Annual Guardian Angel Dinner Dance this September.
The Bank of Princeton has generously supported Catholic Charities annually since 2008, part of its broader commitment to charitable giving in the communities it serves. The bank gave to more than 150 community groups and charities – from food pantries to medical treatment centers to arts and educational services – last year alone.
A core value
At The Bank of Princeton, philanthropy is a core value. Since its founding in April 2007, the bank has grown to a $1.3 billion company with 150 employees at 14 branches stretching from Philadelphia to New Brunswick. With acquisitions and new construction in the works, the bank expects to launch seven new branches by year’s end, which will also expand the bank’s charitable outreach.
As the business has grown, so has its commitment to charitable giving, bank President and CEO Edward J. Dietzler (pictured, left) said. The bank gave to more than 150 community groups and charities – from food pantries to medical treatment centers to arts and educational services – last year alone. Since 2008, the bank has generously supported Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton annually.
Such steadfast support is just part of being a “good citizen” and making a positive difference in communities, Dietzler said.
Richard Gillespie, a bank founder who now chairs its Board of Directors, agreed: “Our bank is all about building up the community around us.”
Love and help others
Gillespie (pictured, left) has supported Catholic Charities for almost 40 years, helping with marketing and fundraising, tutoring grade-school children struggling with homelessness, and starting the Walk of Hope. He also been chaired Catholic Charities’ annual Guardian Angel Dinner Dance twice and has was the recipient of the Light of Hope, Mercer and Richard J. Hughes Humanitarian award.
“I’m Christian, and I think it’s pretty clear the direction that Christ gave us, which is to love and to help others,” Gillespie said. “That’s the main directive that I take.”
All businesses should give back to their communities – and many do, Gillespie noted. Yet many focus their philanthropy on healthcare, education, and research – “all wonderful things,” he said. “But I don’t think enough is given to helping the poor and the needy. It makes more sense to support efforts, like Catholic Charities’, to help people become sustainable human beings, rather than to only provide ongoing financial support for them.”
He called the Corporate Citizen Award “a great honor.”
“I can’t think of any organization that does more for the communities than Catholic Charities, which each year serves more than 100,000 people,” Gillespie said. “When you think about that, it’s almost impossible to see someone who lives in the four counties Catholic Charities serves (Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean and Burlington) who doesn’t know somebody – a family member, a coworker, a neighbor– helped by Catholic Charities. It’s the region’s largest provider of social services, and helps everyone, no matter what your religion is, or even if you have no religion. I’ve seen firsthand how people’s lives are changed by Catholic Charities. And once you’ve seen that, you can’t walk away.”
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