KINGSTON, R.I. –February 19, 2007—Centreville Bank has added $10,000 to its existing scholarship endowment at the University of Rhode Island, bringing its current contribution to $42,000. In addition, the bank has pledged an additional $40,000. The scholarships are awarded to undergraduate students living in the bank’s service area who show merit and need. The gifts are part of the University’s Making a Difference campaign.
“We’re a community bank and as such we want to give back to the communities we serve,” explained Ray Bolster, president of Centreville. “And many URI students live in our communities.”
Headquartered in West Warwick with branches in Coventry, Cranston, East Greenwich, West Greenwich, and Wickford, the bank serves the communities of Charlestown, Cranston, Coventry, East Greenwich, Exeter, Foster, Gloucester, Hopkinton, Jamestown, Johnston, Narragansett, North Kingstown, Richmond, Scituate, South Kingstown, Warwick, West Greenwich, West Warwick, and Westerly. URI’s Enrollment Services makes the selection for the scholarship’s recipients.
Bolster said the Centreville’s eight-member board of trustees feel that its decision to add $50,000 to its existing URI endowment shows Centreville Bank’s commitment to the University. The donation is one of the bank’s largest.
The bank’s president earned an accounting degree from the University in 1975. He came to URI on the GI bill and states that he was given some additional assistance from the University. Any kind of financial assistance, he said, helps students struggling to make ends meet.
Other Centerville Bank board members who are also URI alumni are Paul Barber, class of ’43; Jim Hopkins, class of ’62; and Henry Caniglia, class of ’63.
The University’s Making a Difference Campaign, which will be publicly launched in fall 2007, seeks $100 million to recruit and retain outstanding faculty, enhance the student-centered campus experience, provide undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships, and fund cutting-edge academic and research initiatives.