BANK PRESENTS CITIZENSHIP AWARD SCHOLARSHIPS

From left: Robert J. Granata, chairman and CEO, First County Bank and president, First County Bank Foundation; Ryan Mulcahey of Stamford; Karen Kelly, senior vice president, chief digital banking officer, First County Bank and vice president, First County Bank Foundation; and Willard Miley, president and COO, First County Bank and vice president, First County Bank Foundation.

First County Bank Foundation in Stamford recently announced the 2024 recipients of its Richard E. Taber Citizenship Award scholarships. This annual award honors Fairfield County high school students who consistently demonstrated good citizenship at school, at home and in the community.

The program awards scholarships to three deserving students and is designed to recognize and encourage young people who are honest, hard-working and helpful. Each year the foundation accepts student applications from the beginning of the year until the end of April. The award is named for Richard E. Taber who retired as chairman and CEO of First County Bank in March 2011. It is in recognition of Taber’s 40-plus-year career at the bank and its innumerable contributions to the community.

The following students was chosen to receive a $5,000 Richard E. Taber Citizenship Award scholarship: Ella Casano of Fairfield, attended Fairfield Ludlowe High School and will attend Stanford University, majoring in pre-med; Tessa Fabiano of Stamford, attended Stamford High School and will attend University of Miami, majoring in nursing and mental health care; and Ryan Mulcahey of Stamford, attended Westhill High School and will attend University of Connecticut, majoring in computer science.

Established in 2001 in honor of the bank’s 150th anniversary, First County Bank Foundation was created to distribute funds annually to nonprofit organizations that support community and economic development, affordable housing and programs that support quality of life and educational enrichment for children and families. As a mutual bank with no shareholders, First County Bank considers grants made by the foundation as a means of paying dividends back to the local communities it serves.

For over 170 years, First County Bank, an independent mutual community bank with 13 branches in Stamford, Norwalk, Darien, Greenwich, Fairfield, New Canaan and Westport, offers deposit products, mortgages, wealth management, business banking services, and a full array of digital banking products including mobile and online banking. It has more than 220 employees and assets in excess of $2 billion.