Investors, Valley banks contribute combined $300K to aid COVID-19 efforts

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Two Garden State-based banks are contributing a combined $300,000 to help efforts to fight COVID-19 and to support those communities hard-hit by the pandemic.

Short Hills-based Investors Bank will provide a $100,000 grant from its Charitable Foundation to Stony Brook University Hospital Foundation on Long Island to support its treatment of patients suffering from the disease, while Wayne’s Valley Bank said it is donating $200,000 to 14 food banks.

“We want Stony Brook to use this grant to fight this pandemic and provide assistance to the real heroes—those doctors, nurses, and administrators on the front line,” Investors Bank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Cummings said in a prepared statement. “They are doing a fantastic job under unimaginable circumstances and we want to support them any way we can.”

According to the hospital’s CEO Carol Gomes, the Army Corp of Engineers is building a 1,038-bed field hospital on its campus. Stony Brook University is also working with the hospital to coordinate efforts.

Investor’s move in New York comes from the bank’s Charitable Foundation and marks an extension of a commitment to the Long Island community following its acquisition of Gold Coast bank, which closed at the beginning of this month. In fact, the bank’s chief operating officer Domenick Cama said the original impetus for the funding came from former Gold Cost Chairman and CEO – and current Chairman of Investors Bank Long Island Advisory Board – John Tsunis.

In a statement, Tsunis expressed gratitude for Investor’s commitment to the local community. “I am so grateful that Investors Bank is continuing that partnership and that its core values echo what the Long Island communities have come to expect from Gold Coast,” he said.

Feeding hope

The 14 food banks benefiting from Valley Bank’s donation – which it says will provide for two million meals – span its footprint in New Jersey, New York, Florida and Alabama.

In New Jersey, Community FoodBank of New Jersey, Center for Food Action, CUMAC and Jersey Cares will receive donations.

“Ever a steadfast supporter of CFBNJ’s mission, Valley Bank’s generosity has, in the past, provided second chances through our Food Service Training Academy, and now it allows us to pivot in real-time as we work to meet the surge in need during the COVID-19 crisis,” said Community FoodBank of New Jersey President and CEO Carlos Rodriguez in a prepared statement. “As we work around the clock to help those affected by the worsening economic impacts of the virus, we could not do what we do without the commitment of partners like Valley Bank.”

With the goal of contributing $2.5 million to people impacted by COVID-19, the bank is also offering a new, online only 12-month “Community Recovery” Certificate of Deposit (CD) under which Valley will donate grants to local businesses for a match of more than 40 percent of the interest customers receive from the CD.