Orrstown Bank Participates in "Teach Children to Save" Program

Throughout April and May, Orrstown Bank employees participated in the American Bankers Association’s Teach Children to Save program. Bank employees taught more than 1,000 elementary and middle school students throughout the region, promoting financial literacy and the importance of establishing good money management habits.

“Orrstown Bank is committed to the education of area students. While schools prepare students for real world success, Orrstown Bank focuses on helping young people develop skills for financial success,” commented Mark Bayer, Vice President and Director of Marketing.

The Teach Children to Save program uses lessons that bring together real life and classroom learning, incorporating hands-on scenarios and children’s experiences to help them understand the basic principles of using money wisely. Lessons explore saving, budgeting, prioritizing and more.

Teach Children to Save is a national campaign of volunteer bankers who since 1997 have helped young people develop lifelong savings habits. It includes an annual awareness day, Teach Children to Save Day; a video contest for teens, Lights, Camera, Save!; and the Teach Children to Save website: http://www.teachchildrentosave.com/.

Bayer continued, “In addition to our involvement with the Teach Children To Save program, the Orrstown Bank Foundation also helps prepare students for success through its scholarship program. Over the past five years more than 50 scholarships have been granted to matriculating high school seniors, and this year the program has been expanded and will provide 16 scholarships to high school seniors who are continuing their education.”

Orrstown Bank offers the following tips for money-savvy parents raising money-smart kids:

1. Set the example of a responsible money manager by paying bills on time, being a conscientious spender and an active saver. Children tend to emulate their parents’ personal finance habits.

2. Talk openly about money with your kids. Communicate your values and experiences with money. Encourage them to ask you questions, and be prepared to answer them – even the tough ones.

3. Explain the difference between needs and wants, the value of saving and budgeting and the consequences of not doing so.

4. Open a savings account at your local bank for your children and take them with you to make deposits, so they can learn how to be hands-on in their money management.

5. Give your kids positive feedback. As they get older, give them responsibility over how they spend their money.

With over $1.5 billion in assets, Orrstown Financial Services, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Orrstown Bank, provide a full range of consumer and business financial services through twenty-one banking offices and two remote service facilities located in Cumberland, Franklin and Perry Counties, Pennsylvania and Washington County, Maryland. Orrstown Financial Services, Inc.’s stock is traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol ORRF.