Good News - August 2020

COVER STORY 24 AUGUST 2020 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition South Florida’s community banker, Ginger Martin, president and CEO of American National Bank (ANB), champi- oned the cause of South Florida churches, nonprofits and small busi- nesses during the mad dash to secure funding through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) beginning in April. When COVID hit and the world was shutting down, there was a lot of fear. The CARES Act originally left it unclear who qualified and how it would work. With businesses closed, church giving on the decline and nonprofits forced to cancel fundraisers, quick approval of the PPP was a lifeline for many. “Ginger and Amy Mahaney, her chief loan officer, stayed late into the night to get us this PPP loan,” said Bob Barnes, president of Sheridan House Family Min- istries. “And this has been a very, very challenging time for Sheridan House be- cause when other ministries’ doors are closed, ours are wide open! We’ve got 4,000 single moms and their kids, and we’re having to feed themmore than ever before, so this PPP helped us to pay our employees and shift that money over to feed these moms.” As larger banks directed confused clients to bureaucratic online formats that yielded little progress, Ginger and her team personally completed more than 500 loans in two short months, closing each one individually in their office. This was almost double the number of loans in their previous loan portfolio. “We had almost the entire bank focusing on the PPP,” said Ginger. “We had this total team approach where people were doing things that were not in their job description, and one thing that was encouraging is we were working these long hours and people were just motivated to go above and beyond because we knew this was going to make a difference in our customer’s lives.” There were challenges as the Small Business Administration (SBA) system went down, but Ginger said, “The rapport we built with the people on our team was amazing. It was like people who go to war and they’re in the foxhole. In the heat of things, it just binds you together.” The least of my family From a spiritual standpoint, Ginger said, “I really feel like God was showing up.” Recalling the story of how God used Gideon to rescue Israel from the Midianites in Judges 6, Ginger said she saw God using American National Bank in a similar way. “The angel of the Lord came to Gideon and he said, ‘who am I to save Israel? I’m the least of my family.’ And here we are a $300 million family-owned bank, and God used this small bank to do some really big things.” American National Bank processed 509 loans for a little over $71 million and 20 percent of those dollars went to nonprofits and churches. “Banks are not always that church and nonprofit friendly because they are considered high risk, but of course our focus, and my heart personally, is for Kingdom work,” said Ginger. Extremely active in the community, Ginger currently serves on the board of the National Christian Foundation of South Florida. As a former foster parent, she previously served on the board of 4KIDS of South Florida, Inc. and Tay- lor’s Closet. She is director of the Florida Banker’s Association (FBA)School of Banking, FBA’s Banc- Serv, Broward Workshop, NSU Ambas- sador, Tower Forum and ABA Community Bank Council as well as holding memberships in a number of leadership organizations. Perhaps her greatest passion, however, is fighting again human trafficking, which led her on a mountain climbing journey with The Freedom Challenge. With six climbs under her belt thus far, including a note- worthy climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2015, she has tirelessly raised funds and awareness for women and children who are victims of human trafficking. Because of her involvement with The Freedom Challenge, Ginger re- ceived a call from the president of Op- eration Mobilization U.S., Andrew Scott. “He called me from Atlanta and said, ‘Ginger our bank is not helping us with the PPP. So I said, Andrew, we’ll do it! This is what makes me think of Gideon. Here we are in Fort Lauderdale doing a PPP loan for a very large ministry – to- tally blew me away.” Ginger also obtained PPP financing for Awana International, a ministry based in Chicago that equips local volunteers in over 50,000 churches around the world with Biblical evangelism and discipleship solutions for children. This connection came through Pastor Bill Mitchell of Boca Raton Community Church and his wife Elizabeth Mitchell, who is on the board of Awana International. “I can’t say enough about Ginger. She’s like a rock star!” said Pastor Bill Mitchell. “I’ve known Ginger for years through Lifework Leadership and the Christian com- munity at large, through LauderdaleLead and BocaLead, but I’ve never done busi- ness with her until this year. She has a great reputation, and as I do business with her, I see the consistency through the moral compass that she has. That’s some- thing to honor and applaud. It holds through her whole team, fromAmy to the guard at the door and the tellers; this is a good group of people. There’s something attrac- tive about that, and I know it comes from Ginger and her love for the Lord.” Another thing that stood out to Mitchell was when they went into the bank with the elders and bookkeepers to close the loan. “We had this prayer meeting with Ginger and Amy. It was just amazing to be in a bank boardroom having prayer, which is something I would never do at another bank. And let me tell you, she helped the Christian community through this pandemic. She is a direct rea- son – one of them – why many of us are doing as well as we’re doing.” A vital community bank OneHope, Inc., an international ministry with 175 employees whose mission is to bring God’s word to every child, has been with ANB for over a decade. Jon Ginger Martin &American National Bank Strengthen Community During Pandemic Shelly Pond Good News Editor Ginger Martin Photo by Justus Martin www.justusmartinphoto.com