Hometown Bank in Corbin, Kentucky is the newest member of HCI, and we want to introduce you to two of its club directors, Melody Beecham (pictured on the right) and Sherry Logan. They joined the founding club director Sybil Wooten about two years ago to help her in her efforts to continue to grow the club as well as to learn all the ins and outs of the industry. Melody has now been with the bank for 12 years; her other title is VP Human Resource Manager where she takes care of all the personnel needs of the bank employees. Sherry has been with the bank since it started 19 ½ years ago; as the SVP of Marketing and Deposits, she is responsible for all of the marketing needs and deposit compliance as well as the deposit side of six branches.

 

The Varsity Club is very active. They just completed a seminar for their members on powers of attorney, trusts and wills which was very informative. They also recently had a fun event where participants listened to classical music while painting on canvasses. Their members love to socialize and eat, so they meet periodically for breakfast or lunch throughout the year. Movie Day is always a big hit! Their goal is to have at least two activities and/or tours each month. They have begun to offer international travel this year and are headed to Ireland in October! Offering a variety of trips – one-day, 2-day and some multi nights – ensures that they have something for everyone. They have some one-day shopping trips coming up for the holidays. While they haven’t officially announced their 2020 schedule yet, they have shared a sneak peek that they are going to Alaska and Italy! 

They both vividly remember their first multi-day tour that they led a few years back: “It was a trip to Charleston and Savannah. We were very green and didn’t know much about what we were doing, but we decided we were going to give it our best. So, we loaded up 28 very trusting travelers on the bus and headed south. On day two, we had to call 911 and take a traveler to the ER. On day three, we had a schedule hiccup, and had to find a substitute place to go. At this point we were quite exhausted, and our confidence was starting to thin as we left Charleston and headed to Savannah. One thing I can say about Savannah, Georgia is they have some wonderful food! Our meal that first night was delicious and quite big. We had one traveler who was very concerned about wasting her leftovers and wanted to find someone on the streets to whom she could give her left-over box. Of course, we couldn’t just let her walk the dark streets alone, so Sherry and I promised her we would find someone who could use the left-over meal. And there we went, traveling up one street after another looking for that special someone. You would think that would be easy, but it took us several streets before we found the right someone. We were glad to have helped the man on the street and to make our traveler feel good about not wasting her meal. The rest of the trip went a little smoother (thank goodness!) until we began to head home. Not far out of Savannah, our motor coach had a flat tire! Needless to say, Sherry and I learned a lot from our first trip and knew then it was the start to some lifelong memories.”

Melody and Sherry are thrilled to be able to attend HCI’s Peer Group this year. “The one thing we have already learned is that, to be successful, you need to think outside the box and be always looking for new ideas. As newcomers to the industry, there is so much to learn and we are excited to see what HCI will teach us. We are also excited to learn from our fellow peers in the industry,” they say. “We have attended other conferences in the past, and talking with other peers in the industry has always been one of our favorite and most beneficial aspects of them. We have taken back several ideas that we learned from others. It was actually through a peer that we learned about HCI!”

We look forward to meeting Melody and Sherry in Independence, Missouri next February. We hope to see you there, too!