Customers Bank family and friends raise money for diabetes research

Wyomissing, PA, – Approximately 30 dedicated supporters turned out recently to help a local Yardley area family raise funds at the Newtown 2013 Walk to Cure Diabetes, held at Bucks County Community College. 

Richard Kirk, a Vice President of Operations in the Warehouse Lending division at Customers Bank’s Hamilton, NJ, office, along with his wife Amy, daughter Jill, 16, and sons Zachary, 13, Owen, 10, and Alex, 7, were joined by almost two dozen friends and neighbors in the 5K walk, which was the culmination of a coordinated effort that raised more than $3,000 to help fund research into a cure for diabetes.

It was earlier this year that Richard and Amy Kirk received unsettling news – their youngest son, Alex, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Previously known as juvenile diabetes, type 1 diabetes is a condition in which the body does not produce insulin.

“At first it was quite upsetting, as one might expect,” said Richard Kirk. “But then we got together as a family and decided we weren’t going take this thing passively. Instead, we decided that we would try to do what we can to help turn this into something positive.”

Kirk’s 13-year old son Zachary took on the challenge with particular energy. As part of a National Junior Honor Society project at the William Penn middle school, Zachary and four of his friends undertook a fundraising effort – looking to raise money for diabetes research in the name of his younger brother. That project brought in approximately $2,000. Furthermore, their effort, a mini-walk they named “The Yardley Hunt for the Cure,” will be repeated in coming years, as the society has chosen to continue their commitment to raising money to fight diabetes.

Customers Bank also got involved directly by selecting the Newtown 2013 Walk to Cure Diabetes as a recipient for one of its twice-monthly “Jeans Day” fundraising events. On Customers Bank Jeans Days, bank employees wear jeans (and sometimes their favorite sports team jerseys) in return for a minimum $2.00 donation to a designated charity for the day. In addition, Customers Bank provided T-shirts for the team’s participants.

“It has been a tiring but exhilarating several days,” Kirk said. “We’re thankful for all the backing we’ve received, both the personal efforts as well as the contributions that we’ve received from our friends, neighbors, and my colleagues at Customers Bank. Their outpouring of support has really made this an experience our family will remember for a long time.”

About Customers Bank

Customers Bank is a community-based, full-service bank headquartered in Phoenixville, Pa., with assets of approximately $3.9 billion.  A member of the Federal Reserve System with deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), Customers Bank is an equal housing lender that provides a full range of banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, individuals and families through offices in Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Committed to fostering customer loyalty, Customers Bank uses a High Tech/High Touch strategy that includes use of industry-leading technology to provide customers better access to their money, as well as a continually expanding portfolio of loans to small businesses, multi-family projects, mortgage companies and consumers. Customers Bank is a subsidiary of Customers Bancorp, Inc., a bank holding company based in Wyomissing, Pa. For more information, visit www.customersbank.com.  Follow us at www.twitter.com/@CustomersBank 

Customers Bank team effort: Amy Kirk (facing center, with white head band), along with her son Alex (in front of her) and husband (Richard to her left) is flanked by family and friends who turned out to lend support for their fundraising efforts at the Newtown 2013 Walk to Cure Diabetes.