75 years later, Itasca Bank still dedicated to community

For three-quarters of a century, Itasca Bank & Trust Co. has focused on being the community's bank.

Now the locally owned institution is honoring its 75th anniversary by giving back to that community and working on a comprehensive initiative to combat food insecurity in Itasca, Roselle and neighboring towns.

"I think this typifies who the bank is and what we're about," bank President Jim Mensching said. "The pandemic has had a real impact on food insecurity and that made it an instant priority for us."

The campaign will feature a yearlong volunteer effort by bank employees at five local food pantries as well as food drives and monetary donations. Customers will even get to play a part - the bank is planning a promotion where they'll donate $75 to the effort for every new account opened.

The bank is partnering with the Itasca Cares Food Pantry, Roselle UMC Food Pantry, Bensenville-Wood Dale Food Pantry, Elmhurst-Yorkfield Food Pantry, and the Wood Dale Food Pantry. Marketing and special events are planned to highlight the needs of the organizations.

When the idea came up, Mensching said they wanted to do more than just write a check.

"I thought there was something better we could do," he said.

So they got the five pantries together for a luncheon to find out what they needed. Mensching was surprised to find that the bank knew more about them than they knew about each other.

"The best thing that came out of that meeting, aside from our program, was that they all connected and now they're cooperating and helping each other where they weren't before," he said. "Before we even started anything we already made a significant impact."

The other thing the meeting revealed was that volunteers were just as in demand as donations.

"We thought that was a perfect fit because I really wanted to get the employees involved," Mensching said. "We're like a family here."

They set a goal of 600 volunteer hours by the company's employees to the pantries. They set up a schedule to have two volunteers a day visit one of the locations on company time Tuesday through Friday.

"We filled the first two months immediately," Mensching said.

Over 60 of the company's roughly 100 employees had already signed up to volunteer.

"There's a lot of enthusiasm," said Ginny Wagner, vice president and director of marketing.

Another initiative is a collaboration with The Conservation Foundation's Green Earth Harvest program to provide organic produce to the pantries.

The Green Earth Harvest program sells shares of the certified organic produce grown at McDonald Farm in Naperville to the public for $1,000 for the 20 weeks of the harvest season. Each share provides about 11 "units" of produce, such as carrots, potatoes and lettuce, per week from June to October.

The bank partnered with some of their business customers to raise $44,000 to have Green Earth Harvest grow produce for the pantries on a previously unused 40-acre parcel of land.

Directors of the farm then provided the pantries with a survey to find out what crops would be most impactful for their customers.

"It's going to be what their patrons really are going to be using, so that's a tremendous win," Wagner said.

Mensching, who is the fifth president in the bank's history, said that in addition to those efforts, the bank will be donating about $50,000 toward their food insecurity fight.

The bank was founded by Mensching's grandfather and great-grandfather after his great-uncle moved the town's only existing bank to Bensenville, which he considered to be a more prosperous town at the time.

"My grandfather and great-grandfather said there had to be a bank for the community to grow, so they started The Itasca State Bank the day the other bank left," he said.

The bank has evolved as the community has grown. The once-rural area is now a manufacturing hub. While they used to work with farm families, they now work extensively with family-owned manufacturing companies in Elk Grove, Addison, Itasca and nearby towns.

"More than half the people in Itasca have some sort of relationship with us," Mensching said.

And of course, the name changed. The Itasca State Bank is now called Itasca Bank & Trust Co.

"Everything has changed, but the bank is still here," Mensching said. "What's really important is that our philosophy hasn't changed. We're honest and ethical and we look for win-win relationships that help us and help our customers and often that helps our communities."

That focus on customers is unique in a banking landscape that has seen the majority of local banks gobbled up by a handful of larger banking giants.

The competition from big banks doesn't really bother him.

"As long as we stay true to who we are, if we're honest and fair with our customers, there will always be a place for us," he said. "There will be people who want better service and we'll be here to give them that."