First County Bank Foundation donates $5K to reading program

The First County Bank Foundation recently awarded $5,000 to the Greenwich Alliance for Education, a nonprofit that serves low-income preschoolers in Greenwich.

The funding will go toward the organization’s Going Places with Books program. The program features the Storymobile, which visits 270 preschoolers enrolled in seven preschools twice a month. Storymobile staff members read books to the students.

In the summer, the Storymobile serves Head Start and school readiness classes at Armstrong Court in Greenwich. At the end of the summer, each child is given a book to take home. This summer, First County Bank employees donated hundreds of new children’s books to these preschool programs and read with the kids.

“Our employees had a chance to engage with the kids,” said Karen Kelly, senior vice president of First County Bank and chief marketing officer of the First County Bank Foundation. “Kids were over the moon about the books. Our employees really enjoy engaging with the community and that”™s what we do on a regular basis.”

The foundation said it has donated upward of $100,000 in grants to support education programs in Fairfield County this year.

“We see an increase in education grant applications,” Kelly said. “We see interest for children’s education, especially after-school programs.”

The First County Bank Foundation is the philanthropic arm of First County Bank, headquartered in Stamford and with 15 branches in Fairfield County.