PIGEON FORGE, TN (March 26, 2010) – SmartBank President and CEO, Billy Carroll, recently presented donation checks to Friends of the Smokies President, Jim Hart and Great Smoky Mountains Association Executive Director, Terry Maddox from funds generated through SmartBank’s SmartGreen Account. Carroll stated, “We are thrilled to partner with Friends of the Smokies and Great Smoky Mountains Association with our SmartGreen Account. When we created SmartGreen, we wanted to do something special that would encourage environmental awareness as well as benefit the organizations that work so hard to help promote, maintain and protect our mountains.”
The SmartGreen account is designed so that a donation is made to both organizations every time a SmartBank account holder uses their debit card for signature-based transactions. In addition to the donations accumulated through debit card usage, SmartBank clients have the option to make additional contributions to Friends of the Smokies and GSMA through automatic deduction from their SmartGreen account. The combined donations for both organizations totaled $4,862.00. Kelley Fowler, Assistant Vice President, Marketing and Public Relations for SmartBank said, “We are very pleased with this year’s donation totals especially when you consider that SmartGreen only launched in May 2009, and when we calculated the totals through the end of the year, we were only taking into account 8 months of calculations as opposed to a full 12 month period. The donations have the potential to grow substantially as the Bank grows, and this is something we considered when we created SmartGreen. We wanted to cultivate something that had the ability to gain momentum over the years and would truly impact our beautiful Park.”
Great Smoky Mountains Association Executive Director, Terry Maddox, said “SmartBank can be assured this contribution to GSMA will be an investment in the preservation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the future generations who cherish it.” Great Smoky Mountains Association was founded in 1953 as a nonprofit organization to support the educational, historical, and scientific programs of the park. It is a publisher of information on the Smokies, an operator of bookstores in the park, and a membership organization. Proceeds from these activities go directly to park projects. For more information, please visit www.SmokiesInformation.org.
“We are very grateful to SmartBank for creating such a meaningful and lasting way to demonstrate their great love for the Smokies. Their contributions to support Friends work for the Park are just another example of the sincere commitment to the communities they serve,” said Friends of the Smokies President, Jim Hart. Friends of the Smokies is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization which assists the National Park Service in its mission to preserve and protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park by raising funds and awareness and providing volunteers for needed projects. For more information visit www.FriendsOfTheSmokies.org.
SmartBank opened in January 2007, and currently has 4 offices in Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, Gatlinburg and Knoxville. SmartBank, with over $280 million in assets, continues to be one of the most progressive new financial institutions in East Tennessee. For more information, please call 865.453.2650 or www.smartbank.net.