A jolt of perseverance

Here's something you don't see very often: A party at a community bank to celebrate a customer paying off a loan.

But that's what happened at Preferred Community Bank in Fort Myers. In the lobby recently, staff presented its first Perseverance Award to Duane and Valerie Chamberlain, owners of All Ways Electric, an electric commercial contractor in Fort Myers.

“This is a special thing because it's a company that really got hit hard during the downturn,” says Todd Rinehart, senior vice president and senior lending officer at Preferred Community Bank.