Independent Banker - February 2023 - 64

to hurricane relief and recovery
efforts. DeCicco reports that the
bank's staff has logged more than 120
hours in community service since
recovery efforts began.
Pictured:
" Stronger than the
Surge " T-shirts,
sold at Centennial
Bank branches,
raised money for
nonprofits United
Way and Beacon
of Hope.
up donating its extra rooms to the Lee
County Sheriff's Department for its
staff needs.
Rebuilding community
From the start, community banks
focused on assisting community
and commercial recovery. Banks
temporarily eliminated various fees
and approved loan payment skips
and/or deferrals. By early November,
Sanibel Captiva Bank reported
processing 162 forbearance requests
for loan customers while approving
and processing over $14 million in
new loans for rebuilding efforts.
Community banks also helped their
customers navigate federal disaster
loan and assistance programs. Cogent
Bank is an SBA lender, and its loan
officers went to clients' offices,
whether nonprofits or traditional
businesses, and at no cost walked
them through the steps of gathering
documents and completing and
uploading their applications to the
SBA portal.
Centennial's boat trips to Pine
Island also provided benefits to
others in the community. Stearns also
arranged to bring medical staff over to
check on elderly patients and others
that might be in need.
Sanibel Captiva allowed some
displaced nonprofit organizations
to use its extra office space and
conference rooms while they rebuild.
When the bank reopened its main
branch, it also began serving hot
lunches. By mid-November, the bank
had served more than 1,500 hot dogs
and hamburgers and had plans to
continue for several weeks.
In addition, Sanibel Captiva
announced a $100,000 donation to 13
nonprofit organizations contributing
Cogent Bank sponsored a hurricane
rebuild concert in Bonita Springs that
helped raise money for the recovery.
The bank also covered the cost of
activation fees for thousands of Visa
gift cards that the United Way gave to
residents to cover essentials.
Rebuilding and replacing what
was lost will take years, but bankers
are impressed with the resilience on
display. " I've been amazed at how the
community and people have rallied, "
says Cogent's Box. " Most have said,
we're not going to let this stop us. "
" There's a kind of campaign on Pine
Island that 'we're stronger than the
surge,' " Stearns says. " We'll rebuild.
We're stronger than the surge. We
have to be. "
Judith Sears is a writer in Colorado.
Getting lives back in order
The Fort Myers area endured high winds and rain and a record 7.25foot
level surge, which left behind catastrophic damage. " Thirtythree
percent of our clients were impacted, " says Brandon Box,
market president, southwest Florida, for Cogent Bank. " People had
fish in the pool and saltwater mud up to the ceiling. They lost their
house, their car or lost both cars. In that situation, before you think
about business, you have to get your life back in order. "
The home of one of Cogent Bank's team members was flooded
with five feet of water. " One of the things I'm most proud of is that
our whole team showed up at his house the next day even though
everyone had their own property to clean up, " Box says.
" Twenty of us cleaned out his entire house and got him back
on his feet, " he says. " It's like taking someone's entire house and
putting it by the curb. We cut the drywall out, took out all his floors,
basically took the house down to the studs. We were able to stop
the mold so he can start to rebuild. The coolest thing has been
seeing people help one another. "
independentbanker.org // 63
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Independent Banker - February 2023

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