Dolores State Bank recently donated $1,500 to the Mancos community in response to the Western Excelsior mill fire.
At the beginning of July, the bank gave checks for $500 each to the Mancos Fire Protection District, Mancos Pay It Forward and Mancos FoodShare. Mancos Pay It Forward and Mancos FoodShare have been offering food and financial help to the families of more than 100 people who lost their jobs when the business burned down on May 8. Several fundraiser events in and around Mancos, most recently a film festival on July 15, have benefited these and other nonprofits in the area.
“The directors of the Dolores State Bank know what the loss of a business such as Western Excelsior does to a small community,” the bank’s assistant vice president, Shawna Valdez, said in a statement on July 18.
Dolores State Bank has served customers in Montezuma County since it opened in 1959, but it opened its first Mancos branch in 2015 after buying the Mancos Valley Bank building. Valdez wrote in her statement that the bank directors consider themselves “part of the Mancos community” and want to help with the aftermath of the fire as much as possible.
The Mancos Board of Trustees and the Montezuma County Board of Commissioners both declared the Western Excelsior Fire an economic disaster earlier this month, and are in the process of applying for federal assistance for affected businesses.