The Bradley County Battle of the Banks will be held on Tuesday to benefit the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. From left, front, are Joe Womac, Southern Heritage Bank; Amy Tinsley, BB&T; Tracey Walker, United Community Bank; Tracy Plank, Bowater Employee Credit Union; and Daniel Elrod, SouthEast Bank & Trust; and back, Andy Sneed, Southern Heritage Bank; Mark Locklear, BB&T; George Vallejo, BB&T; Tammy Leatherwood, Relay For Life event chairman; Cynthia Elkins, United Community Bank; Matt Holden, Bowater Employee Credit Union; and Jerry McGaha, SouthEast Bank & Trust.
Co-ed teams comprised of employees, spouses of employees, and even children of employees will compete in a single elimination tournament for first, second place, as well as an MVP awards.
Banks participating in the fundraiser include: B&T, BECU, Southern Heritage, SouthEast Bank & Trust, United Community Bank.
Southern Heritage Bank is looking forward to some friendly competition between our peers in the local banking industry to raise money for such a great cause,” said Shelli Cody, from Southern Heritage Bank.
United Community is proud to support the Battle of the Banks because it raises money for Relay for Life,” said Tracey Walker, from United Community Bank. “I personally am excited to see our group, who works so closely as a team get to show our team work on the court. A couple of our employees have battled cancer, and we all strive to kick its tail everyday… so we plan to take it to the court and battle it out there.”
SouthEast Bank & Trust is looking forward to avenging their 1-point loss in last year’s McMinn County Battle of the Banks as well as raising money for the Relay for Life. Stephen Miller of SouthEast Bank said, “team fully expects to hoist the championship trophy, be the MVP team for raising the most money, and defend our Bradley County championship title at the McMinn County tournament later this summer.”
Bowater Employee Credit Union’s main reason for participating in the Battle of the Banks is because the Relay for Life is a fantastic cause that BECU has supported and participated in for years, said Tiffany Barnes, BECU Staff member at the Calhoun Branch. “the Battle of the Banks, we get to help raise money for Relay for Life while having a great time with our coworkers – it’s the perfect opportunity to participate in the community BECU serves,” added Barnes.
BB&T’s team aspect of working together combined with helping others in need in our local communities is truly a win-win said Amy Tinsley. She also said, “feel very fortunate and proud to be a part of an organization that supports such great initiative like the American Cancer Society."
Tickets to the upcoming tournament are $5 (kids 5 and under are free). Special Battle of the Bank 2012 t-shirts supporting participating banks are also available for $10. Both tickets and T-shirts can be purchased at participating bank locations.
Each bank in the tournament is sporting their own color shirt BB&T is dark grey, BECU is light blue, Southern Heritage is maroon, SouthEast Bank is bright blue and United Community is orange. Each bank participating will be selling the shirts and tickets. The bank who sales the most tickets and shirts will receive the Most Valuable Team award. First and Second place team trophies will also be given at the end of the tournament.
Relay For Life of Bradley County takes place downtown Cleveland on May 4, beginning at 9 p.m., and May 5, ending at 10 p.m.
Anyone wanting more information on Battle of the Banksor Relay For Life of Bradley County, contact Angela Mathis at 423-855-2778 or at anglea.mathis@cancer.org.
The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. To learn more about us or to get help, call us any time, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org .
