Century Bank Donates $10,000 to VNA's Senior Living Community

Pictured above in Century Bank's beautiful Medford corporate offices: Barry Sloane Bank, President & CEO; Linda Sloane Kay, Executive Vice President; Bank Founder & Chairman, Marshall M. Sloane; Shipley C. Mason, Senior Vice President and Linda Cornell, President & CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association of Eastern Massachusetts.

This past Friday, VNA Senior Living Community's CEO and President, Linda Cornell, was surprised to see her name in lights for the first time! "Welcome Linda Cornell, VNA CEO/President" was flashing on Century Bank's large electronic billboard as she approached the bank's Medford corporate offices for a big meeting. A really big meeting. A meeting worth, in fact, $10,000 in assistance to the VNA's non-profit community for independent and assisted living seniors located at 405 Alewife Brook Parkway in Somerville.
While few will may be surprised to hear again of Century Bank's commitment to our local communities and of their generosity, this donation is very special as it literally "hit home" for more than 90 seniors. This past January, during an extreme cold snap, water pipes burst on the VNA Senior Community's fourth floor, flooding a quarter of the apartments there and on the third and second floors below. On the first floor, the water damaged the commercial kitchen so badly it was moved to another area of the building for five months. Seniors had to be relocated and apartments, hallways, elevators, systems and equipment demolished, refurbished and/or replaced.

Though insured of course, as in many such cases the policy did not cover all the incurred expenses, so the call went out for assistance from the community. Century Bank and the Sloane family, long-time supporters of the work of the VNA of Eastern Massachusetts and the mission of Linda Cornell and her staff, were among the many who committed to help the Senior Community restore the beautiful apartment homes and other areas that had been damaged. Now back they are and better than ever! Six months later, the community proudly toured both Barry Sloane and his sister Linda Sloane Kay through the revitalized portion of the building following the community's very successful Grand Re-Opening. It was this past Friday, as the donation towards the outstanding cost was received that the theme of the Grand Re-Opening once again rang true; we get by with a little help from our friends!

The VNA of Eastern Massachusetts and its Senior Living Community at Alewife would like to again express their gratitude to Century Bank and to the Sloane Family and to the other companies and persons who have helped us to restore and to ultimately improve our community. Please contact us at 617-702-6000 for information about independent or senior living at our Alewife Brook Parkway or Lowell St., Somerville communities. vnaem.org