Umpqua Bank in Antelope is a new breed of bank. They are considered a “next-gen” store with their SAS – Serious about Service – philosophy. They offer free Internet; fresh-ground coffee daily with cookies added on Fridays and a birthday cake that is available for all to share on the third Friday of each month. Any “universal associate”, as the employees of Umpqua Bank are referred to, is able to help you with all of your banking needs – there is no need to spend time waiting for a certain bank employee based on the type of account you are trying to open.
“Community” is Umpqua’s middle name. Not only do they do community BBQ’s throughout the summer, but they also make their facility available for various community activities such as the recent 12-week Community Weight Loss Challenge which held its Thursday classes there, the Antelope Chamber of Commerce, as well as several organizations that have used the parking lot for community-based car washes. Umpqua is so community focused that they pay each of their employees for 40 hours per year to devote solely – during business hours – to community-based activities.
Antelope bank manager, Dominic Mecklenburg, is one of the most community-minded individuals I have ever had the pleasure to meet. He is certainly perfectly matched with his employer! Dominic has been seen driving the Umpqua Bank ice cream truck around to area preschools and local new construction sites, delivering complimentary cool treats on our hot summer days to the children and workers. They make sure they have sugar-free and non-dairy treats available – especially for the children – so that no one is left out of the fun.
One program offered by Umpqua Bank that stands out is their “Learn to Earn” program that they are currently running in three of the local elementary schools in the area: CCAA, Dudley and Oak Hill. This program brings Umpqua bank into these schools for about 30 minutes once a week where the children are taught about saving money, keeping accurate records, and encouraged to make deposits into savings accounts that they have opened with their parent’s permission. The children are rewarded with a small toy of some sort each time they make a deposit. No fees or interest are charged on these “Learn to Earn” program accounts. At the end of the school year, Umpqua Bank rewards their top savers in each school by making a $5.00 deposit into the winners’ savings account!
School tours are also welcome at the Antelope Umpqua Bank. Students are invited for a full tour, including the vault. The children are able to ask questions and get to participate in a coloring contest. On the tour of the vault, the kids are allowed to hold a “brick” which is a $1,000 stack of one dollar bills! They are able to get their picture taken with the brick as well. Every child leaves with a goody bag that always includes the “homework pencil” with the Umpqua logo. At the end of the tour the winner of the coloring contest takes home the highly coveted Umpqua coin bank.
Umpqua’s commitment to customer satisfaction is such that you can actually pick up the handset of an old-fashioned, highly polished silver phone in their teller area and dial a pre-determined number that will put you through directly to Umpqua Bank’s CEO Ray Davis’ office. When Ray is in the office, he actually answers the line himself. Unfortunately for me, Ray was out the day I was there, but his personal assistant answered my call right away and informed me that Ray does indeed answer the phone himself whenever possible and that he always personally returns the calls of each customer that he misses.
Let me squeeze in one more cool little detail about the Antelope Umpqua Bank. A commercial was filmed in their location a while back that you can now see online at www.lemonaire.com depicting Umpqua’s commitment to investing in the futures of our future. In the spirit of entrepreneurship, they filmed the commercial and then did a lemonade party where children from the local “Learn to Earn” programs could “apply” for a small business loan to open a lemonade stand. Each child was given a lemonade stand kit that included their first $10 of start-up cash – for purchasing sugar and lemons – a table cloth, a stack of cups and instructions. From the applications, one child was chosen as the big winner and was awarded the professional lemonade stand that had been created for Umpqua for the commercial. After the event was over, the children were given the opportunity to come back on Fridays and actually set up their lemonade stands and sell lemonade outside the bank. The winner of the contest was even featured on Good Day Sacramento, where she went head-to-head against the host in a friendly lemonade-sell-off, and won!
Stop into the Antelope Umpqua Bank and see the difference for yourself. It’s like no other banking experience! Bank manager Dominic and universal associate Danica – who have both been in the Antelope location since it opened – would be happy to help you. Umpqua is located on the corner of Elverta and Walerga Road, in the Bel Air Shopping Center. www.umpquabank.com