St. Mary’s Bank announced today that it made more than $4.8 million in low-income housing loans and charitable gifts in 2006. The loans and gifts were made to individuals and organizations throughout New Hampshire.

The credit union made over 4.6 million dollars in homeownership loans to low-to moderate- income families and individuals through its partnership with NeighborWorks Greater Manchester. Additionally, St. Mary’s made 43 Family Emergency Loans, totaling nearly $27,000. Family emergency funds are distributed to individuals through a number of local social agencies including; The Way Home, Families in Transition, Child & Family Services and Southern New Hampshire Services, among others.

St. Mary’s also donated $130,000 to various charitable organizations including the Heritage United Way, New Hampshire Catholic Charities and American Cancer Society. Several of the organizations with whom St. Mary’s supported this year are recipients of multi-year commitments. The credit union made a $50,000 contribution to Catholic Medical Center as part of its five year $250,000 commitment, as well as $5,000 to both the YMCA Greater Manchester and the Currier Museum of Art, as part of multi-year commitments of $25,000 to each. Other multi-year recipients include the Hudson Valley Senior Center and the Friends of the Valley Cemetery.

“It is a natural extension of our mission to both provide housing opportunities to the underserved, and to support organizations and individuals in the communities we serve,” says St. Mary’s Bank president and CEO, Ronald Rioux. “As a credit union, we have always understood that we cannot be satisfied merely with doing well. We must also do good, by helping to lift the individuals and the charitable organizations in our community.”

Other recipients of contributions from St. Mary’s include Boys & Girls Club, Daniel Webster Council Boy Scouts of America, The Salvation Army Kids Café, and Easter Seals. Additionally, St. Mary’s provided $70,000 in tax credits to the Community Development Finance Authority, $8,000 in grants to various non-profit agencies and $2,000 towards Individual Development Accounts. Employees and members of St. Mary’s came together to make a donation of nearly $3,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

One special effort by St. Mary’s was the adoption of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion 25th Marines from Londonderry, New Hampshire. When Company B was deployed in late 2005, they were presented with 100 calling cards purchased with money from St. Mary’s, its members and employees. In February of 2006 the bank set up Company B collection stations at each of its branches so that members and employees could make monetary donations or drop off food or personal items.

After several months of training stateside, the Company arrived in Iraq in April of 2006. In total St. Mary’s shipped 40 boxes of food, clothing, personal care products and other items to Company B, and sent an additional 100 calling cards to Company B so they could stay in touch with friends and family back home. “Our support of these efforts, as well as the generosity that we encourage in our members and employees, helps make a difference in the lives of thousands of individuals in our state,” says Rioux, “and helping support New Hampshire troops stationed overseas is especially important right now.”