Shorewood employees help child, earning new customer

North Shore Bank has a new customer, thanks to quick action on the part of two employees.

When a little girl took a spill off her scooter outside the branch early this summer, Shorewood teller Kevin Pereira rushed out to help. When he saw the cuts and scrapes on the girl’s arm, personal banker Laura DeBruin supplied some Band-Aids and antiseptic from the first-aid kit.

The girl and her grandma, who was with her, were not customers at the time. But earlier this month, they stopped back into the branch to open a Seymour Savings account.

“Grandma and the girl had talked about how kind Kevin and Laura were,” branch manager Shannon Weber said. “They agreed that a bank that reaches out and helps the way Kevin and Laura did is a bank this little girl wants to be with forever.”

“When asked how I could help them, they said, ‘Oh, we were impressed by how fast you guys responded to seeing something like that, and we thought it would be a good idea to bank somewhere that seems to genuinely care about people,'” Kevin said.

Laura added that she didn’t think she and Kevin had done anything extraordinary: “If you see someone fall and get hurt, you try to help. I would hope most people would have done the same if they saw a kid get hurt.”

In a fun and fitting twist, the little girl’s first name happens to be Karma.

“Laura and Kevin were in the right place at the right time,” Shannon said. “And it made a great impression.” •••

New Brookfield Capitol building opens

Our newly constructed Brookfield Capitol branch opened this week to great fanfare and acclaim.

“It was a whirlwind of a day!” universal banker Cassandra Kopacz reported of Monday’s opening day. “We had a lot of customers coming in to check out the new branch. Most of them really like it, and the few that weren’t too sure about it came around once they got the tour!”

The new full-service branch has an updated design and offers convenient options like extended video teller drive-up hours, drive-up ATMs, in-branch coin counting, and more private meeting areas than the old branch had.

Cassandra said some customers were apprehensive about losing the drive-thru service they’ve been accustomed to, but that seeing the drive-up video teller service in action put them at ease. “Many were especially excited to hear that the video tellers have extended hours — even on Sunday!” she added.

To celebrate the new construction and affirm the branch’s commitment to the community, Brookfield Capitol is holding a curbside food drive through November 7. The public can pull up to drop off nonperishable food and monetary donations for Food for the Hungry of Brookfield in a safe, socially distanced manner. North Shore Bank will match monetary donations up to $500. •••

Mindful Minute: Gratitude Challenge Week 4

Your Zen minute: It’s all about intention and gratitude. Appreciate that you are starting a new day. Set your intention to be mindful and truly aware of every moment. How do you plan to make that happen today? Write it down. Make. It. Happen.

Here we are in Week 3 of our Gratitude Challenge! How’s it going? Listen, it’s so important to take a little “you” time and do this. We all need a reminder now and then of the good things in our life so we can truly honor them. Inwardly, doing this brings about a sense of calm — and that shows through to others. What about asking your family to join in? Let’s see what this week brings. Here are your prompts:

• Day 19: What is a sound that makes you happy?
• Day 20: What is something or someplace than makes you feel alive?
• Day 21: What is a favorite memory from childhood?
• Day 22: What is goal you’ve achieved? Did you celebrate it? If not, go do that!
• Day 23: What is something that makes you feel peaceful?
• Day 24: Who is a person who makes you laugh?

Brookfield Capitol personal banker Darlene Pilka commented: “I absolutely love this gratitude challenge. It centers me and makes me realize all of the wonderful things, people, experiences, etc., that I have had in my life. It is so good I have shared it with others. Truly a wonderful and thought-provoking experience. Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of it.”

If you’re participating in the Gratitude Challenge and want to share how it’s going, please let us know at shorelines@northshorebank.com. More prompts next week — we’re grateful for the opportunity to share this with you! —Pat Ingelse, AVP, PMP •••

Zoo Boo attendance looks good despite COVID concerns

This year’s North Shore Bank Zoo Boo at the NEW Zoo has been a success, despite fears that COVID-19 would hurt attendance. Zoo operations manager Patricia Jelen reported to the bank that 2,580 people showed up for the first weekend of the event and 2,168 showed up last weekend. “We are also only getting very positive feedback. No complaints to speak of,” she said.

The zoo has taken steps to keep the spooky weekend fun and safe for visitors and employees with social distancing and other safety measures.

Green Bay East universal banker Kari Tuyls took son Max last weekend. “We had a blast!” she said. “Loved all the decorations and thought everything was set up very well.”

Zoo Boo takes place again this Friday and Saturday, October 23 and 24, and next weekend as well. More information and online tickets can be found here. •••

SOAR Together Tributes: September 2020
Recent winners of our Seymour Salutes awards are Margie Brusa and Janet Rosenthal. Read more about their achievements here!

Sussex manager Ashleigh Faith worked on cruise ship

New Sussex branch manager Ashleigh Faith is from Muskego and previously worked as senior banquet operations manager at Milwaukee’s Potawatomi Hotel & Casino. She describes her management style as democratic. “I like to get input and feedback from my team,” she says.

“I took a break in college and worked on a cruise ship in Hawaii for eight months,” she says. “It was fun but hard work — we had to work seven days per week and about 85 hours each week for 20 weeks. Then we got four weeks off.”

She spent her four weeks off visiting the Philippines, where she stayed with people she’d met from the cruise ship, in the town of Guagua, in the province of Pampanga.

“We traveled around the state of Luzon,” she says. “It has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and the food is amazing.”

Ashleigh also has different-colored eyes. “One is blue, and the other is half blue, half brown,” she says. Cool! •••

New Hires for October 22
It’s always exciting to add new members to our team. Here are some of the fresh faces at North Shore Bank.

AVP business banking Joe Broadfoot was born in Delafield and now lives in Ixonia. He previously worked as a business development officer and SBA specialist at Bank Five Nine. “I enjoy most outdoor hobbies, but especially biking and snowboarding,” he says. “You can often find me biking the Emma Carlin and John Muir trails in Palmyra. I have been snowboarding for 20 years and have ridden in almost every state out west that offers skiing. My favorite hill in Wisconsin is Granite Peak.” Joe also has a son, Sawyer, who was born in February — you can see a photo here. •••

Forgivable homebuyer grant funds still available
The bank and our partner NeighborWorks Green Bay announced this week that $276,000 in forgivable grant money is still available through mid-November for northeast Wisconsin qualifying homebuyers. Grants of up to $6,000 per applicant are available, are forgiven over a five-year period, and can be combined with other programs.

Qualifying individuals must live in the counties of Brown, Door, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Oconto, Outagamie, Shawano, Sheboygan or Winnebago; have a household member who is elderly, disabled, a domestic abuse survivor, challenged with addiction, or homeless; and have a household income at or below 60 percent the area median income. More information here. •••

Wedding bells ring as employees celebrate marriages
Four bank employees have weddings to celebrate this week.

Mequon teller Van Corey married best friend Rachel in Oconomowoc last month. “We had absolutely beautiful weather on our perfect day,” he said. Among the guests were Southwest personal banker Shannan Mahloch and mortgage loan officer Diana Castillo. “Southwest was my old branch and I’m glad for the connections that I made there,” Van said.

McHenry assistant branch manager Mandy Crain and new husband Chris finally tied the knot after multiple delays, including a rescheduling due to COVID-19 that required some clever save-the-date revisions. “The revamped wedding was a small elopement of the two of us, our officiant, and our awesome photographer — Burlington personal banker Erik Bankhead,” Mandy said. “It was absolutely perfect!”

Senior systems analyst Bryan Peters and new wife Amanda got married early this month after 12 years together. Although they didn’t have to reschedule because of the pandemic, they did have to reduce their guest list slightly. “We had 150 people who had already RSVP’d, but the venue said we had to cut it down to 125,” Bryan said. “It was a rainy day, but it made for some great pictures out in Milwaukee around the Pabst Brewery! I also hear it’s good luck if it rains on your wedding day — and I think we could all use that this year!”

And senior loan funding representative Kelly Thiemer’s son Zachary got married at the end of August. They also had to downsize the guest list because of pandemic capacity restrictions, but Kelly said it was a lovely day regardless. “No COVID was going to stop this wedding! It was a beautiful day to close out the summer!” •••