Biz Buzz: Banker hands out burgers along with cash

Published 7:00 am Sunday, August 28, 2022

JOSEPH — Being a banker isn’t all figuring interest rates, taking deposits and other money-related matters. On Tuesday, Aug. 23, Deena Perin was dishing out hot dogs and hamburgers in the Community Bank parking lot in Joseph in her first community appreciation barbecue as manager of the Joseph branch.

“We are having our customer appreciation back,” she said as she was dishing up the final meal. “It’s been off for two years and we’re bringing it back.”

Perin said the annual event had to be skipped for the past couple of years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But this year, the bank handed out 300 to 400 free hamburgers and hot dogs during the event, she said. There also were prizes, both for adults and kids. The theme of the prizes this year related to camping. There were Dutch ovens and cookbooks for the adults and water bottles and water guns for the kids, she said.

While the annual barbecue is usually in August, Community Bank also holds a “shred day” in June to take care of unwanted documents in the wake of the tax-filing deadline.

Family ties

Perin said her family has deep roots in the Joseph area. Her grandfather, Anah Jennings, was town sheriff of Joseph in the 1950s.

She has spent most of her banking career in the area.

“I started here since 1986,” and have been in the area since, she said, “off and on.”

She also worked at a La Grande branch of the bank for seven years doing mortgages.

“Then my mom got sick and I moved back and I started back on the operations side,” she said. “That’s doing telework, taking deposits, customer service and making sure everybody’s happy when they leave.”

In all, Perin has worked her way up.

“This was my first job and I’ve learned all the aspects of it. We have a great team,” she said. “I’ve been doing all sections of the bank. My latest position is branch manager.”

Loves the area

She’s thrilled to be able to take over at her favorite Community Bank branch.

“It’s God’s country,” she said. “I love to hunt and camp and hike.”

She also is strongly supportive of the business community.

“We want to keep the businesses going here,” she said. “Everybody’s like family.”

One of the “family” members she introduced was drive-up teller Lauri McAfee.

“All the customers love her — and their dogs, too, because she gives every one a bone,” Perin said.

McAfee is one of three employees at the bank. Perin said she’s hoping to hire another teller, but is short on applicants and doesn’t know why.

“We need to get somebody to apply,” she said. “Maybe they’re all working.”

In addition to Joseph, Community Bank has branches in Enterprise, Baker City, Pendleton, and in Washington at College Place, Clarkston and Walla Walla.

The future?

Now that she’s a branch manager and well-settled in Joseph, Perin figures she’s “gone as far as I can go.”

But she’s still eager to see her branch — and the community — prosper.

“I just want to support the bank and the customers through tough times, like through COVID and all of that,” she said.

In fact, the bank is donating to assist in the recovery from one of the more recent tough times, the Aug. 11 hailstorm in Wallowa, she said Aug. 24. The bank has set up an account to accept donations from the community to help Wallowa. The amount the bank itself is donating was not yet determined at press time.

Who: Deena Perin, manager

Where: 609 N. Main St., Joseph

Phone: 541-432-9050

Online: http://www.communitybanknet.com/

When: Founded 1955.