Over Labor Day weekend, over fifty volunteers from Southern Community and the Greek Orthodox Church of Winston-Salem came together with the common goal of building a home for a family in need. Together, we began construction on a Habitat for Humanity home for Tomache Jones and her children Terrell, age 14, and Tamera, age 10. The construction kicked off on September 2 during the Jimmy Johnson Labor of Love Building Blitz in Winston-Salem, and by September 5 we were already putting shingles on the roof!

The event, named for the late Jimmy Johnson, a local General Contractor and major Habitat supporter, included teams of volunteers working on five different Habitat houses. The Southern Community and Greek Orthodox Church volunteers will be working on completion of the home until early November. Our hope is that it will be ready for Ms. Jones and her children to move in by December. This project has been a great experience for all of our employees involved. A special thanks to all of our Southern Community participants and to the Greek Orthodox Church for partnering with us in this effort!

If you would like to volunteer to help us in our efforts or just want to find out more about Habitat for Humanity, visit www.habitatforsyth.org.

Online banking allows you to bank whenever and wherever you want. But this added freedom has the potential of added risk in the form of online banking scams. We want to remind you that Southern Community will never ask for personal information from you (aside from entering your password) while you are banking online. And because we want to ensure the highest degree of security in all your transactions, we provide an Enhanced Online Security feature as an added layer of protection. This feature verifies your identity in two ways – by identifying you
as a customer, and by allowing you to identify the bank using a private image and
pass phrase.

  • Never banking online where someone can see information over your shoulder, like in a library or public internet café.
  • Changing your online password often.
  • Updating your anti-virus and anti-spam software, making it more difficult for scammers to access your personal and account information.
  • Not responding to any pop-up pages that ask you to provide, update or verify your personal or account information. Although they may look legitimate, look for some of the following signs that could indicate a fraudulent message:
  • An urgent tone, claiming that if you fail to update, verify or confirm your information, access to your accounts will be suspended.
  • Links that appear legitimate (including a legitimate company's name or web address) but that may not be. Always type web addresses into your browser instead of clicking on links.
  • Incorrect grammar or misspelled words.

Southern
Community Receives
Rewarding Awards

We are not known to brag, but we just can't help sharing our pride for several recent awards we received. These local and international awards recognized our commitment to outstanding service to our customers:

The Celent Model Bank 2009 Award, "Online Banking Experience" Category,

was awarded to Southern Community in recognition of our current website, www.smallenoughtocare.com, and its enhanced online banking experience through effective use of technology. Also recognized was the site's online introduction of ME Banking, and the reinforcement of our "small enough to care" philosophy as delivered through live chat, our SCB Connect call center with extended hours, and easy-to-use new account opening procedures. Only eighteen banks throughout the world were chosen for this award, and Southern Community was the only community bank selected.

The Bronze Award in the Vision Awards Annual Report Competition,

sponsored by the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP), was awarded to Southern Community in recognition of our 2008 annual report. The theme of the report was tied to the economic climate of 2008 and its consequences for the financial industry and illustrates how Southern Community remained focused on our guiding principles.

Voted "Best Bank in the Triad"

by readers of the Winston-Salem Journal in the Readers' Choice 2008 Awards. It is a great honor to be recognized in our hometown, so Southern Community's award in this category really puts a smile on our faces! Voters cited our commitment to providing the same services as larger banks, but with a focus on the personal attention found at hometown institutions.

These awards prove that you don't have to be the biggest to be noticed. Thanks to our wonderful Southern Community customers for their support and contributions to our success!