Happy New Year and Welcome 2021!
Who is looking forward to a new year and a fresh start? The year 2020 presented you, the communities we live in, and the BCT team with many unforeseen challenges to our daily lives. Tragically, for some, the loss of loved ones brought you great sadness, for whom we offer our sincerest condolences. For those who are weary from keeping businesses open and family budgets afloat, we offer our encouragement and empathy. Hopefully, the many lessons we have learned will result in greater successes and wonderful opportunities!
Our BCT team has been reminded what it means to be community bankers who support our communities in numerous ways beyond mere financial transactions. Moreover, I could not be more proud of how the BCT team rose to the occasion time and again by innovating new ways of meeting your needs safely in the midst of pandemic challenges. Our team will use what we have learned to continue to innovate ways to better meet your needs in the future.
In addition to a fresh start, 2021 also marks an exciting milestone for BCT, our 150th anniversary! Early in our existence, Samuel Walter Washington, then President of BCT, was faced with similar circumstances as today. In 1918 the country was dealing with the Spanish Flu pandemic. Schools were closed and communities were shut down, but banking business continued. Then, just as today, BCT focused on providing the best service possible to its customers. As I reflect upon the leadership of my predecessor Presidents of Bank of Charles Town, I greatly appreciate the care they and the Board of Directors took to ensure our community has a locally owned bank that is resilient and endures in both good and challenging times.
Plans for celebrating our 150th anniversary will include many opportunities for you to join us in honoring the heritage of BCT that began on April 2, 1871. A local historian researched many newspapers and other records to provide a look back at our story over the past 150 years. We will consolidate his account of our story and make it available. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and hope you will, too.
As we sing Auld Lang Syne to 2020, there is one word within that poem I hope will remain a large part of who we are as people, a community, and a community bank – kindness. In 2020, we witnessed our customers and communities demonstrate kindness to our healthcare heroes, our small businesses, our neighbors in need, and much more. Going forward, whether facing exceptional challenges or the mundane, I believe life will be better when we treat each other with compassion, understanding, and generosity of spirit – kindness.
I sincerely thank you for choosing BCT to be your financial partner. Onward to 2021!
Alice