Citizens National Bank presents more than $89,000 to non profits

Published 6:30 pm Tuesday, March 26, 2019

By Submitted 

Submitted photo Citizens National Bank presented $89,454 in grant distributions to area non-profit organizations Tuesday. These donations were made through the W. R. Baird Charitable Trust, which is managed by Citizens National Bank’s Wealth Management Division.Front row, from left are Julie O’Brien, Catholic Charities; Katie Bergin, Special Olympics; Major Young Kim, The Salvation Army; Stephanie Woodall, The Free Clinic; Archie McDonnell, CEO of Citizens National Bank; Sara Smith, Care Lodge, and Brenda Hiatt, The Free Clinic; Back row, from left, C.D. Smith, Meridian Freedom Project; Denise Smith and Aa’Keela Hudnell, The American Red Cross; Tina Aycock, Hope Village for Children; Ricky Hood, Boys and Girls Club of East Mississippi; Reverend David Schultz, The Wesley House, and John Northam, L.O.V.E’s Kitchen. 

Citizens National Bank presented $89,454 in grant distributions to area non-profit organizations in a ceremony Tuesday.

Of this amount, a total of $86,954 in donations was made through the W. R. Baird Charitable Trust, which is managed by Citizens National Bank’s Wealth Management Division. An additional $2,500 grant was awarded to The Montgomery Institute on behalf of the Bank.

The W. R. Baird Charitable Trust

The W. R. Baird Charitable Trust was established in 1978 by William Robert Baird with less than $200,000 and is now worth more than $5.5 million.

Baird was born in 1902 in Jackson, Louisiana. In 1930, he became a salesman for New Orleans Manufacturing Company, making his headquarters in Meridian, where he married Elizabeth Gulley Hall in 1938. The couple moved back to Meridian in 1969, when their home in Pass Christian was destroyed by Hurricane Camille.

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Receiving grants were Care Lodge, Multi-County Community Service Agency, L.O.V.E.’s Kitchen, Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity, Mississippi Special Olympics, Greater New Orleans Foundation, Boy Scouts of America (Disadvantaged Campers Fund), Catholic Charities, the American Red Cross Southeast Chapter, The Salvation Army of Meridian, The Boys and Girls Club of East Mississippi, Hope Village for Children, The Free Clinic of Meridian, New Destiny Daycare & Learning Academy, Wesley House Community Center and Meridian Freedom Project.

The Baird Charitable Trust committee makes semi-annual distributions, and has made a total of $248,438 in distributions in 2018 and 2019. Since 1981, more than $4.5 million in distributions have been made.

The Montgomery Institute

The $2,500 donation to The Montgomery Institute was the third installment of a $12,500 grant that the Bank has pledged to the organization over a 5-year period, from 2017 through 2021.

The Bank has designated these funds to support job training programs, employment, and/or entrepreneurship related activities for the benefit of unemployed and/or under employed individuals who reside in East Mississippi. The grant will also support community planning and development in the same area.

The Institute was organized as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation in 2001, after receiving permission from the late G. V. “Sonny” Montgomery to be named after him.

The Montgomery Institute has undertaken initiatives since its inception in 2001, in leadership development, rural place building, educational enhancement, workforce development, research and information dissemination, regional cooperation, and innovation.