Movers and Shakers April 20, 2013

Community 1st Bank earns five-star rating

Post Falls-based Community 1st Bank, which also has a branch in Coeur d'Alene, has received a five-star rating from BauerFinancial, Inc., an independent bank rating agency.

Five stars is Bauer's highest rating.

Bauer collects quarterly data on banks and financial institutions and ranks them based on criteria centered on safety and soundness, including capital, asset quality and profitability. No institution can pay to be put on the list, nor can it choose to be excluded.

Community 1st Bank, locally owned and operated, started in 2007.

Kleinjans joins Hallmark, Northwest Realty team

Northwest Realty Group and Hallmark Homes announced the addition of a new employee.

Brian Kleinjans has spent more than six years specializing in new construction home sales. He brings a thorough understanding of the process and a strong desire to help make building a home as stress free as possible.

Brian spent the majority of his career in education and training in the corporate world. He takes his love for education and training, and working to help people and applies it to helping new home buyers and guiding them through the home building process.

We welcome him to Northwest Realty Group and the Hallmark Homes Sales Team. Let him help you through the building of your new home.

STCU turns paper

statements into trees

Starting on Earth Day, which is Monday, STCU members who switch to paper-saving electronic account statements will be helping plant trees. At the same time, they'll help local students learn about conservation and sustainability.

For every member who makes the switch from paper statements to e-statements between April 22 and June 30, STCU will donate the money to plant one tree along Deep Creek, Coulee Creek and Hangman Creek (also called Latah Creek). Work will be done in North Idaho, as well, although exact locations have not been selected.

The work is being organized by the Lands Council, which hopes to plant 5,000 trees through its Project SUSTAIN. STCU hopes enough members make the switch to e-statements by June 30 to provide at least 1,000 of those trees.

Up to 400 Inland Northwest high school students will help plant the trees, said Amanda Swan, Lands Council director of development and communications. Students from Mead Alternative School, The Community School, On Track Academy, Lewis and Clark High School, Coeur d'Alene High School and Post Falls High School and St. Maries High School will participate.

"The benefits are in reducing erosion in the watershed," Swan said. "Tree planting helps stabilize stream banks, reducing sediments and toxics from entering our watersheds and eventually the Spokane River. There's a public health benefit that goes beyond doing something great for the environment and planting trees."

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