Washington Trust Acknowledges Eden Park Elementary School As Top Donor to Bank’s Annual Peanut Butter Drive

School Collects 600 Pounds of Peanut Butter RI Community Food Bank

Westerly, Rhode Island... Cranston’s Eden Park Elementary School was the top peanut butter collector of the more than 100 schools, businesses, and organizations that participated in Washington Trust’s 11th Annual PB Xpress peanut butter drive to benefit the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. During the months of March and April, students collected 492 jars or 600 pounds of peanut butter. This matched the school’s efforts in 2010, for a two-year total of 1,200 pounds of peanut butter.

The school’s 600 pound donation was part of the total 7 tons of peanut butter Washington Trust collected during the April-March 2011 drive. Since 2001, Washington Trust has collected 94 tons of peanut, enough to make three million peanut butter sandwiches.

“This is an outstanding effort by the young students and we thank them for their contributions,” stated Joseph J. MarcAurele, Washington Trust Chairman, President, and CEO. “By participating in this community food drive, they have learned many lessons to last them a lifetime.”

“The children understand the importance of helping those in need,” said Eden Park Elementary School Principal, Cheryl Anderson. Adding, “Knowing this was a worthy cause that would directly impact local families, they were more than eager to participate. “This was truly a community effort to bring awareness to the anti-hunger campaign and to do their part to help. I am so proud to be a part of this school community.”

“With the need for food assistance at record levels, this year’s PB Xpress played a crucial role in collecting highly nutritious peanut butter for families in need,” commented Andrew Schiff, Chief Executive Officer of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. “The Food Bank is thankful for everyone’s participation in this unique campaign, and applauds Eden Park Elementary for leading the charge. It’s always great to see young people get involved with a cause that has such wide-reaching impact.”

The school holds an internal school-wide contest to reward the class that collected the most peanut butter. Mrs. Torres’s Sixth Grade Class earned first place and Miss Grandolfi’s First Grade Class earned second place. “I feel it is very important for the students' to be involved in the community and to participate in community service related projects. I try to get them to understand that they can make a difference and to help those that are in need or less fortunate. They were very excited to see the daily chart to calculate how many came in for the classroom and then being able to see the school wide chart continue to increase,” said Ann Marie Torres, Eden Park’s Sixth Grade Teacher. To reward the student’s for their efforts, Washington Trust hosted a pizza party to thank the top fundraising classes.

The Washington Trust Company is a subsidiary of Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc., a $2.9 billion corporation headquartered in Westerly, Rhode Island. Founded in 1800, Washington Trust is the oldest community bank in the nation and is the largest independent bank headquartered in Rhode Island. A state-chartered bank, Washington Trust offers a full range of financial services, including business banking, personal banking, and wealth management and trust services through its offices located in Rhode Island, Southeastern Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Corporation's common stock trades on The NASDAQ Global Select® Stock Market under the symbol WASH. Web site address: www.washtrust.com.