Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 18, 1993 TAG: 9302180379
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BOTETOURT BANK BUSTLING WITH PRIDE IN HOME
The next few months are expected to be busier than usual at the Bank of Buchanan.In February, the bank will get into full swing planning its second annual art show and sale and forming partnerships with two Botetourt County schools. In March, it will open a new Eagle Rock branch office.
A casual observer might not notice the change of pace, though. Because the bank with the big clock out front and local art on its walls has a way of quietly bustling all the time.
Customers steadily come and go, stopping in to handle transactions or just to say hello.
Sometimes a group of pre-schoolers comes through on a tour, marveling as a transaction box shoots down the tube from the drive-through teller's window.
"There's a real sense of community," said G. Lyn Hayth, vice president and cashier. "That's why we advertise as `Your Hometown Community Bank.' "
Hayth said the bank's primary mission is to return profits to its stockholders.
"But a lot of our stockholders and customers deal here because they want an institution that puts back into the community. So we try to be profitable while also being a good community member."
Hayth grew up in Buchanan, four miles from the bank where he's worked for nearly seven years.
Michelle Austin, a part-time teller/bookkeeper and all-around customer-relations assistant, also grew up in Buchanan. She was the bank's first college intern and may join it full time after she graduates from Roanoke College in May.
Since Austin's 1991 internship, the bank has hired several college students from the Buchanan area to work during the summer and school breaks. A Lord Botetourt senior also is working at the Daleville branch under a school co-op program.
"I'd say 80 percent of our employees are from Botetourt County and within a 15-mile radius of this office," Hayth said. "With the exception of maybe two people, everybody at this office probably grew up within five to seven miles of here."
It's not a requirement, he said. But it may explain the extra measure of pride the employees tend to bring to their jobs.
The Bank of Buchanan was formed in 1899. Three years ago it opened its first branch, in Daleville. Its second branch, in Eagle Rock - scheduled to open March 1 - actually will be a merger with a former Dominion bank branch that many years ago was a community bank called Bank of Eagle Rock.
The merger and acquisition of Eagle Rock's approximately 1,500 accounts will raise the bank's assets to $60 million and its payroll to 34 employees.
Botetourt County, the bank and its community-related projects all seem aligned on a parallel rapid-growth track, Hayth said.
For example, the bank's Art Wall was a project that started about three years ago when several local artists asked to display their works at the main office. Demand for the space eventually became so great the bank had to come up with a monthly rotation system. There's now about a six-month waiting list to get on the wall, Hayth said.
Art By The James grew from the Art Wall. The event, which does not include crafts, takes place in many of the community's facilities, including its historic church buildings. Hayth said that in addition to works by regional artists, this year's show on April 24 will feature a professional storyteller, local entertainment and an artists' reception.
"We wanted to do something to get people into town, so they could see Buchanan - maybe buy something, maybe even say, `I want to open up a store or shop in Buchanan,' " Hayth said.
The bank's Daleville office also hosts activities. During summer, it opens its parking lot to the Botetourt Town and Country Women's Group for chaperoned dances for intermediate-school students. The branch also has a 1,600-square-foot community room for free use by the public or community groups.
"We've even had wedding receptions for people who didn't have the budget to rent a place," Hayth said. "It's no-frills but it's carpeted and nice."
When its newest branch opens, the bank plans to form a partnership with Eagle Rock Elementary School to help finance and implement some programs that weren't included in the county's budget.
The bank also will set up an in-school bank with a little wooden tellers' stand where students can make deposits and learn how banking works. And the bank may join the school in sponsoring an After School Enrichment Program that would bring in special instructors about 12 times a year to teach such things as art and karate after regular school hours.
A partnership with Botetourt Intermediate School's math department to help teach children how to handle bank accounts also is in the works.