Press release

First Hoop is a slam dunk for high school athletic departments

Fri, 02/22/2019 - 8:00am

As the Maine high school basketball season comes to a close, First National Bank is pleased to report the successful results of their signature athletic programming sponsorship initiative called First Hoop.

Designed to promote team spirit and fan participation, First Hoop was launched in 2005 by First National Bank. Since its inception, the First Hoop program has awarded $201,550 to participating high school athletic departments in the bank’s market area. For the 2018-2019 basketball season, 10 high schools came forward to participate in the program, including Boothbay Region High School, Calais High School, Ellsworth High School, George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill, Lincoln Academy in Newcastle, Medomak Valley High School in Waldoboro, Mount Desert Island High School in Bar Harbor, Oceanside High School in Rockland, Shead High School in Eastport, and Sumner Memorial High School in Sullivan.

Through First Hoop, First National Bank has supported each participating school’s general athletic programming fund by awarding a cash donation at every home court basketball game. The donation awarded at each game was dependent on the outcome of a series of events. Fifty dollars was the base donation, automatically awarded at the start of every home varsity game. Fifty dollars was added to the fund if the first hoop of the game was scored by the home team. Finally, fifty dollars was added to the fund if a randomly drawn spectator (also known as “The First Fan”) successfully made a free-throw hoop at half-time.

In its 14th season, First Hoop donated a total sum of $22,350 to the 10 high schools’ sports programming funds. Tony McKim, president and CEO of First National, observed, “Over the past years we have received so many enthusiastic comments about this program from school administrators, employees and fans alike. I want to thank our employees who volunteer their time at these games. Through their effort, First Hoop has made a significant contribution to high school athletics.”

First National Bank is an independent community bank with 16 offices in Lincoln, Knox, Hancock, Washington and Penobscot counties. For more information about First National Bank, please call 1-800-564-3195 or visit www.thefirst.com.