Giving Back to Our Community

First National Bank of River Falls prides ourselves on giving back to the communities we serve. In 2019, our employees spent 3,843 volunteer hours helping with non-profits and different activities within Pierce and St. Croix Counties. This is an all-time high for the bank’s 70 employees and calculates to nearly 55 volunteer hours per employee.

Jeff Johnson, President & CEO, commented, “As a locally-owned community bank, we believe that it is our responsibility to give back as much as we can to the communities that we serve.  Many of our employees have causes that are near and dear to their hearts, and we are just thrilled that our staff continues to make substantial differences in the communities where they live, work, and play.”

First National Bank and its employees embrace the community bank difference through community involvement and service.  Employees are welcomed and invited to participate in service opportunities during and outside of business hours, which is made possible by annual paid community service hours provided to each full or part time employee. 

“Volunteering brings me joy and it often feeds the good things in our world. I enjoy connecting with people and being involved with solutions to meet basic humanitarian needs. I also love working for FNBRF because the Bank gives back and supports my volunteer interests,” explains Melissa Kosse, Organization Projects Officer.

“The neat part about our program is that each employee is able to choose what’s nearest to their heart.  Often, without the paid time or ability to volunteer during business hours, they wouldn’t have that chance,” said Kaydi Sobottka, Vice President of Human Resources.  

David Hirstein, Vice President - Commercial Lender, explains, “Being a lifelong resident of River Falls, I feel it is important to give back to the community that has given me so much.  I coach a lot of youth sports and I enjoy helping kids learn and grow in all aspects of life through sports.” 

Among the volunteer hours, our employees spent more than 1,500 hours enriching the lives of our youth, and over 800 hours working with organizations to benefit community health. The remainder of our hours were split between civic groups, religious, arts, music and entertainment, conservation and other community outreach efforts.