Santa Cruz County Bank names new vicepresident
Santa Cruz County Bank, a community bank headquartered in Santa Cruz County, announced that Kristine Ronzano has joined the bank as vice president, relationship manager to serve customers in the greater Santa Cruz area.
Ronzano will maintain her office at the bank’s 2020 N. Pacific Ave., location in Santa Cruz where she is responsible for customer acquisition, lending and business development, according to a release from the bank.
Ronzano began her 38-year banking career in 1983 at Coast Commercial Bank. She started as a teller and accelerated to positions of increasing responsibility during a span of 17 years, including operations supervisor, credit analyst, business banking officer and branch manager.
A native of Santa Cruz, Ronzano has deep ties in the community and has served on a wide spectrum of nonprofit boards and committees. She currently serves on the boards of the Fallen Officer Association, the Aptos Chamber of Commerce and as a member of the Santa Cruz Business Council.
“It’s an honor to join Santa Cruz County Bank,” Ronzano said in a prepared release. “Over the years, I’ve admired the bank’s ability to make a direct impact on the local and broader community, and I look forward
to contributing to their reinvestment in local business startups and expansions.”
Kaplan releases book
Singer Ron Kaplan and indie music label Kapland Records have released their second book titled “Song of Ron.” The book features composed of poetic lyrics from songs written and performed from 1976-1983 chronicling Kaplan’s journey of insights on love and life with his guitar as a trusty companion he book is available now at Bookshop Santa Cruz and Kelly’s Books in Watsonville. For information, visit store.bookbaby. com.
KP donates to Second Harvest
Kaiser Permanente Santa Cruz County is awarding a $95,000 grant to Second Harvest Food Bank in Watsonville to help serve the growing number of people in the community who need food assistance, many of whom have lost their jobs because of COVID-19.
“CalFresh is Santa Cruz County’s first line of defense against hunger,” said Suzanne Willis, chief development officer of Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County in a prepared release. “Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen an unprecedented need: twice the number of requests for food from twice the number of residents.”
With the grant, Second Harvest will offer application and enrollment assistance to 1,000 former CalFresh clients who are no longer enrolled in the program. Second Harvest also will work with others in the community who may need access to the program.
Campaign contributes
The Return the Favor campaign sponsored by Santa Cruz Community Credit Union ended Dec. 7, bringing an additional $10,000 to local nonprofit organizations.
The credit union thanked local businesses UR 1 Stop Auto Sales, Cardinale Oldsmobile GMC and BTW Industries Inc. for their contributions during the campaign.
“We want to thank our community for stepping up and helping our local nonprofit organizations who need help right now,” said Beth Carr, president/ CEO of the credit union in a prepared release.
Bank awards grants
Bank of America has awarded a total of $527,000 to local nonprofits across Monterey and Santa Cruz counties this year, according to a release from the bank. The grants focus on alleviating the unprecedented impacts to health, food insecurity, jobs and education.
This year, the bank awarded grants to Digital NEST, a Watsonville organization connecting youth from underserved households and communities of color with the critical skills and workforce training to enter various tech fields, and increased support of Natividad Foundation, Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County, Food Bank for Monterey County, Community Food Bank of San Benito County and Central Coast YMCA.
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