There is nothing better than seeing the smile on a childs face, especially when faced with huge adversity.

One of our employees, Lori, has a 10 year old son that plays on a little league baseball team with another boy named Andrew. Andrew has been diagnosed with an uncommon form of melanoma. The family had been preparing for Andrew to undergo treatment here in the Valley, but last week they received a blessing from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. With their help and financial support, Andrew arrived in Memphis last night to begin treatment.

During their last game of the season, all of the families put together a going away gift basket for Andrew. Within that basket, Lori made sure there was an autographed baseball from Andrew’s favorite player, Joe Mauer.

As an employee at CBU, it’s infrequent that we get to see the direct results of our efforts. We see the memorabilia, we meet the charity fundraisers and event planners, but we seldom see the faces that it directly effects.

The smile on Andrew’s face is why our entire staff shows up to work day in and day out. That smile represents the hope that we can—we are, and we will continue to make a difference in the world one step at a time.