Click here for the latest information with the

Citizens National Bank Presents Over $90,000 in Grant Money to Local Non-Profits

Citizens National Bank presented $90,000 in grant distributions to area non-profit organizations in a morning press conference which was held at the Bank’s Downtown Banking Centre in Meridian on March 29th.

Of this amount, a total of $87,898 in donations was made through the W. R. Baird Charitable Trust, which is managed by Citizens National Bank’s Wealth Management Division.  An additional $2,500 grant was also awarded to The Montgomery Institute on behalf of the Bank.

Casey Hendricks, Vice President of The Montgomery Institute
Casey Hendricks, Vice President of The Montgomery Institute, accepts a $2,500 donation on behalf of Citizens National Bank.

The W. R. Baird Charitable Trust was established in 1978 by William Robert Baird with less than $200,000 and is now worth over $4.8 million.  In his Last Will and Testament, Baird requested that the income from his charitable trust account be used to support persons, institutions, and organizations which serve the poor people of Mississippi and Louisiana.

The Baird Charitable Trust committee makes semi-annual distributions, and since 1981, over $4.3 million in distributions have been made.

New Destiny Daycare & Learning Academy and The Freedom Project were two new Baird Trust grant recipients this year, and their addition was made possible as a result of the trust fund’s continued growth.        

Casey Hendricks, Vice President of The Montgomery Institute, was also on hand to accept the Bank’s $2,500 donation to their organization.

The donation was the fourth installment of a $12,500 grant that the Bank has pledged to the organization over a 5-year period, from 2012 through 2016.

The Bank has designated these funds to support job training programs, employment, and/or entrepreneurship related activities for the benefit of un-employed and/or under employed individuals who reside in the East Mississippi area.  The grant will also support community planning and development in the same area.

The Institute was organized in 2001 as a 501 c (3) non-profit corporation in memory of the late Congressman G. V. “Sonny” Montgomery. 

Citizens National Bank is proud to support so many worthwhile organizations.  That’s the “Power of Local!”
 

Baird Trust
Pictured from left to right are:  Anna Stephenson (Meridian Freedom Project), Lean Follett (The Free Clinic of Meridian), Shannon Ainsworth (Special Olympics), Janet Buchanan, (Hope Village),  Major Glenn Riggs (The Salvation Army), Angela Hicks (Multi County Community Service Agency), Leslie Payne (Care Lodge), Ricky Hood (Boys and Girls Club of East MS), Archie McDonnell (CEO of Citizens National Bank), Jay Huffstatler (American Red Cross), Fonda Rush (Habitat for Humanity), Ken Kercheval (Choctaw Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America), LaBaron Hedgemon (New Destiny Daycare & Learning Academy), Michelle Wilson (American Red Cross), and Winky Glover (L.O.V.E.’s Kitchen).  Presentations were also made to Catholic Charities and the Greater New Orleans Foundation.