At VCNB we encourage our employees to give back to our communities. We believe that a happy, healthy community is a good place to do business and that there is no better way to contribute to a community than through volunteerism.

Last year we had more than one hundred employees who did at least eight hours of community service. That’s more than 800 hours of time donated by our employees! The truly neat thing is that our folks contribute to all sorts of worthwhile projects.

We volunteer for animal shelters, summer reading programs and 4-H. Many of our employees work at food banks, helping to package and distribute grocery items to needy families. Some of our employees volunteer for school functions, boosters groups and even work concessions or ticket gates for high school sporting events.

We hope that our employees will give of their time to projects and organizations that are near and dear to their hearts and that will make a true difference. While we have so many employees doing good things across our seven counties, one of our most unique volunteers is Kathy Ramsay, Head Teller at our Salt Creek Banking Center in Laurelville.

Kathy Ramsay is pictured with the quilt she made and donated to the Laurelville Fire Department. It raised $400 at auction.

Kathy is a kind hearted person who loves to sew. That’s why so many people in her family, in her community and across the world are benefactors of her hard work. Kathy makes quilts for the Quilts of Valor Project Foundation,  an organization that helps quilters like Kathy donate quilts to American soldiers who have been touched by war. Last year alone, she sent five quilts to soldiers stationed at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

But it doesn’t stop there. She donates baby quilts to Adena Hospital for little kids who need the comforting touch of home during their hospital stay. She donates handmade fleece hats for the Laurelville and Tarlton fire departments’ Toys for Tots programs and for the Sparrow House, an outreach ministry in South Perry.

This fall, she and some friends will spend a day at the elementary school in Laurelville, making hats for little kids in preschool. That’s about 60 hats these ladies will make for children between the ages of three and five. Best of all, the youngsters will pick out the fabric they like best and watch the hat be made.

She has made quilts for nearly every member of her family and commonly donates quilts for fundraisers.

This month, Kathy donated a beautiful red, white and blue Americana quilt to the Fireman’s Festival. The Fire Department auctioned the quilt at their 91^st annual festival, raising $400 to help with the department’s operating expenses.

“I just really love to quilt and sew,” Ramsay said.

She estimates she has been involved in this hobby for 35 to 40 years. “I like trying new techniques, new fabrics. I’m inspired by trying new things,” she explained.