There are three essential needs in life — food, clothing, and shelter. Those with limited financial resources often must seek others for help to supply these necessities. Lycoming County has several thrift stores in the area with quite a variety of clothing items, and the food banks in each of the local communities dispense vitally needed healthy food products. There are also emergency shelters, such as those provided by the American Rescue Workers/Saving Grace Shelter, which are incredibly important, especially in these winter months. But these are only meant to be temporary. The bigger problem is finding permanent affordable housing for those who need it. This area is much more complex than putting food on the table and clothes on the back.

It was for this reason that the Lycoming County Supportive Housing Program (SHP) was developed. The Supportive Housing Program is a guided program designed to help local residents to stay in their current housing or find new housing, along with teaching them financial, life, and career skills.

This is a multi-faceted measure that relies on outside agencies, and a key player on the financial side is Jersey Shore State Bank (JSSB).

The Supportive Housing Program is implemented through STEP, and Jersey Shore State Bank is well represented as Aron Carter, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Risk Management, is on the Board of Directors at STEP and Jill Morrissey, Community Reinvestment Act Officer, served on the SHP Advisory Committee. President Karen Young noted that JSSB was extremely pleased to be able to “help our friends at STEP.” She noted that JSSB, “has always been dedicated to the communities it serves and has a strong interest in promoting their financial well-being.” To that end, the bank has donated $50,000, which allowed the program to help even more clients than initially planned.

Not unlike Muncy Bank and Trust Company that was featured in this column back in September of last year, Jersey Shore State Bank believes in giving back to the communities it serves and also strongly encourages community involvement from the employees at JSSB. President Karen Young knows that being actively engaged and involved in the local communities gives them the opportunity to understand better the needs of the communities in which they serve. Young leads by example, as she has been involved and continues to serve as a board and committee member of many local organizations.

There are many aspects to buying a home and JSSB makes it a special goal to help first-time homebuyers. In fact, JSSB ranks in the top five in the state for USDA loans and number one for HOMEstead loans. The USDA Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program provides moderate-income households the opportunity to purchase a single family primary home and finance up to 100% of the purchase price. HOMEstead loans are part of an FHA program that provides need-based borrowers up to $10,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance in the form of a no-interest, second mortgage loan. HOMEstead funds are forgiven at 20% per year over five years. JSSB is also a top lender for PHFA’s Keystone Advantage Assistance Loan Program. With the Keystone program, qualified borrowers are provided with a second mortgage loan to help with down payment and closing costs on the property. Eligible applicants can receive up to 4 percent of the purchase price or market value, or $6,000 in assistance (whichever is less).

Another local housing need that the bank is addressing is with the local non-profit agency Roads to Freedom and their proposed 24-unit special needs housing development. This special needs housing development will be the only one of its kind in the area that specifically addresses the unique housing requirements of those with disabilities. Jill Morrissey serves on their Board of Directors, and the bank has donated to the organization and sponsored their grant applications.

The bank has also helped the local American Rescue Workers / Saving Grace Shelter with an employee-led clothing drive as well as financial contributions. Another recent community project by the bank is helping with the new food bank program, Harvest of Hope, at Faith United Methodist Church.

And if this was not enough, the bank also has an outreach to veterans as well. Last year, members of the JSSB Mortgage Services Team not only volunteered their time at the VFW Leroy O. Buck in Duboistown by helping to bag 59,000 pounds of food but also made a $1,000 contribution to help the efforts of the VFW Military Share Program.

Given all this, it is not a surprise that Jersey Shore State Bank recently received an “Outstanding” rating from the FDIC for its Community Reinvestment Act outreach. They would be considered outstanding by any standard.