The National Honor Society recently presented Martha’s Vineyard Co-operative Bank with its Golden Torch Award, which recognizes community service.

In a blue two-level cottage house on South Main Street in Vineyard Haven resides one small local bank with a big community focus.

That focus has not gone unrecognized. The Massachusetts chapter of the National Honor Society recently presented Martha’s Vineyard Co-operative Bank – a mutual-chartered bank established in 1909 – with its Golden Torch Award. The award is given annually to a business that is committed to giving back to the community.

Bank President Richard Leonard said that while the $103 million-asset Martha’s Vineyard Co-op is the island’s smallest bank, it is also the area’s proudest business.

“We are very physical in terms of being supportive throughout the island, whether it be through bank services or work with affordable housing, which is very slim on Martha’s Vineyard,” said Leonard. “We are the smallest bank on the Vineyard, but we are right on the forefront of assisting affordable housing and engaging in community work.”

Every year, each chapter of the National Honor Society chooses a local business that embodies the ideals of the NHS for the Golden Torch Award. In particular, the NHS looks for a business that is committed to giving back to the community – a business that focuses on community service in its mission. This year, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School nominated Martha’s Vineyard Co-operative Bank for the Massachusetts chapter’s award.

“The Golden Torch Award is for a local business or company involved in community service, not only in giving money but also helping in terms of a support capacity,” said Natalie Munn, National Honor Society advisor for Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. “The [Martha’s Vineyard] Co-operative Bank gives to whomever asks. They donate to the school a lot, and are very active in the affordable housing groups, and they help with the various residences that have been going up around the island. Educationally, they do sessions at the high school to help students manage finances, and in the elementary school to teach children about checking programs.”

Each year during the December holiday season, the bank supports one local family through its Red Stocking Fund and serves as the drop-off point for the public’s Red Stocking donations. The bank hosts a variety of seminars for island residents such as the one it is hosting this month for the Southeastern Economical Development Corp., in hopes that its workshops will assist entrepreneurs in planning for their new business and teach them how to develop business plans, where to obtain financing and how to understand their financial statements.

As part of its customer service, the bank offers an avenue to consumer credit counseling services when it sees a customer that appears to be having debt issues.

Leonard said Martha’s Vineyard Co-op is dedicated to helping people afford their homes. It is also a member of Homeowner Options for Massachusetts Elders, and Leonard said the bank is committed to being a leading lender on Martha’s Vineyard when addressing the issue of affordable housing.

Munn said the bank is very committed to supporting educational programs on the island by sponsoring an elementary school banking program, through a company called Save for America, where the bank donates the first dollar to open each student’s account and provide the students with materials for keeping track of deposits. The bank also participates each year in National Teach Children to Save Day and sponsors an essay contest with entries from junior high school students, assisting in judging and donating toward the prizes.

Martha’s Vineyard Co-op is a major supporter of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Science Fair, said Munn, donating funds to support the local fair and sponsoring trips to the regional and state fairs for the winners.

The bank also has helped the school with funding for projects, fund-raisers and school events, and some bank members sit on the school’s advisory board.

‘An Enhancement’

Still, Leonard stressed that the Golden Torch Award goes beyond the bank’s work with the school, and is representative of the bank’s overall commitment to the community, especially in the revitalization of affordable housing in the tony island vacation hotspot.

“The bank started in 1909 and was founded as a mutual institution where people could establish a savings and then be approved for financing for their home,” said Leonard. “The bank has always been about primary homeownership and we have continued that mission – and now it’s about affordable homeownership, because that is a different problem altogether.”

Leonard said that today, affordable housing has a stigma attached to it that the bank is trying to eliminate. On the pricey island of Martha’s Vineyard, Leonard said affordable housing can be seen as something that would deteriorate the value of property on Martha’s Vineyard.

“Affordable housing is often perceived as something [residents] do not want in their neighborhood, but we have never viewed it as such. It’s an enhancement to any neighborhood,” said Leonard. “We had a house that had been donated years ago to a nonprofit organization, so we made a mortgage on it, but the house wasn’t being managed well and the loan was at fault. So, we had the option of foreclosing, but instead we formed a group of concerned and capable people in the community to finance with low-income housing tax credits.”

Today, Leonard said that house stands as a beautifully restored independent living facility on the Vineyard for people 55 years of age and older, and is currently operating successfully.

Leonard said the bank continues to work with elderly housing, financing and infrastructure, and any additional costs on elderly or independent living facilities.

“We are constantly working in as many ways as we can with our limited resources. A lot of it is commitment of the staff and directors [of the bank] and the awareness that the community has of us,” said Leonard, who noted that during the past seven years the bank has received an outstanding Community Reinvestment Act rating from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. “All our loans go back into the community in the form of residential mortgages or business or development loans, with higher concentrations in low- to moderate-income lending. We are a small bank, but we continue to work as many angles as feasible to assist the various aspects of the community.”

With a National Honor Society award on its shelf, Martha’s Vineyard Co-operative Bank continues its community work, and Leonard said he hopes other people recognize all that the bank does for those who live and work on the island.

Munn, who said she saw an opportunity to nominate a business that helps the education of children and the housing of low- and moderate-income families, said the nomination was also her way of saying “thank you” to the bank that helped her achieve the finances for her first home.

“The award is for a business who gives both in education and in leadership. They sponsor our science fair, and they directly give finances to the school for other projects,” said Munn. “And, my husband and I couldn’t be here if it weren’t for the loan they gave us to purchase our home. It’s the giving, but it’s also the philosophy of the bank as well, that makes Martha’s Vineyard Co-op worthy of this award.”

Leonard, for his part, said the entire bank staff is humbled by the award and simply honored to be nominated and recognized as a bank that helps others.

“Being born and raised on the Vineyard and being entrenched in the community, one of the things I hated to see were the families and people that I grew up with distressed about financial problems,” said Leonard. “So, the bank is determined to give a good foundation of economic literacy from an early age that would relieve stress in their adult lives, and we have had over 10 years of success in our financial literacy programs. It’s a commitment that we have to encourage people at an early age.”