By Robert Williams

Editor

United Community Bank (UCB) is about more than being a part of the community, it is a force for good in the community and does more than just say it; residents will frequently run into a UCB event or UCB sponsored event that is helping out in small towns.

“We’ve always had that tagline, ‘Community is our middle name,’” Frazee Branch Manager and Loan Officer Ashley Renollet said. “If our community is strong; we’re strong and that’s the biggest thing, making sure we’re involved in community activities and we’re supporting that. It goes full circle and comes back around.”

UCB has branches in Frazee, Perham and Dent.

In Frazee, UCB has hosted Hornet Pride Picnics every summer since 2010. The picnics continue this year every Wednesday afternoon from June 3-Aug 26. Each year, the purpose of these picnics is to raise money for Frazee Fine Arts and Athletic programs at Frazee-Vergas Public Schools.

“Those were kind of our regular numbers, about $5,000, but we had to take a year off during COVID and when we brought it back the following year we started to be able to do $10,000 donations. That’s awesome.”

UCB matches the amount raised each summer. Over the course of the picnic fundraisers, UCB has raised and donated $91,000 with hopes to surpass $100,000 this year. 

“That’s the goal,” said Renollet. “It’s a really good cause. It’s nice seeing the kids come down and getting into it. Then, they’re the ones also benefitting from it. Their programs, whether it’s sports or band or academics, they’re the ones that get to take from that pot.”

Students also take part in helping serve customers. Many students come down as part of a group they are affiliated with at school as a way of helping out.

UCB also keeps the business in town and shares the wealth by utilizing Frazee-based businesses for needed supplies to run the summer picnics like: Ketter’s Meat Market; Frazee Family Foods; OK Lumber and All in All Convenience Store.

UCB also provides free admission to select sporting events each fall and winter. The UCB Battle of the Bees games are free to the public, with all costs covered by United Community Bank. The annual events typically feature a doubleheader of basketball or volleyball games between the Perham Yellowjackets and the Frazee Hornets.

“We try to split them up and share those; sometimes we do it in Perham, sometimes Frazee,” said Renollet.

UCB is also a larger contributor to the Frazee Pickleball fund, which is close to meeting its goal.

“It just ties it all together up there; you’ve got the school, the pickleball courts, the park, it’s all flowing nicely, all that connectivity,” Renollet said.

UCB has also been a supporter of the growth of Wannigan Regional Park. Renollet serves on the Frazee Community Development Corporation (FCDC) board.

“It’s been really fun growing with the community; being here 23 years and seeing what’s changed over those years is pretty remarkable,” said Renollet.

Renollet cited the ever-increasing traffic at Wannigan Park, from both locals, regional visitors and many travelers from out of state. While the park is years away from its final phase of development, the Thomas Dambo troll Jacob Everear and the Schaefer Covered Bridge, built by Dewayne Schaefer in 1998, lured 40,000 different visitors to the park.

“That’s very impactful to our small town of Frazee,” Renollet said.

UCB has also organized a series of fundraisers during the month of September as part of the Minnesota Bankers Community Impact Month. 

The fundraisers consisted of different food trucks, community picnics, and bake sales in Perham and Frazee. Through these events UCB collected donations and matched every dollar that was raised 100%. Altogether the communities helped United Community Bank raise $11,640 for Veterans Honor Flight of Minnesota/North Dakota. It is the highest amount UCB has ever collected and presented to Veterans Honor Flight.

For more banking information on UCB visit: ucbankmn.com and check out a very active social media page at facebook.com/ucbankmn