Ken Moodity

Disclaimer: If your name is Ken Moodity and you are reading this, I apologize. This is not in any way supposed to be about anyone I know that existed. In fact, if you can prove your name is Ken Moodity, contact Bruning Bank and I will send you a Bruning Bank cup. 

If you don’t know already, my wife and I have three-year-old twin girls and a son that is one year old. The twins are constantly making up new games and trying to find new names for all their dolls and animals. They are also getting very sassy, but we are very blessed with three healthy children. 

               One day we were sitting at the table having an unhurried weekend breakfast and they each had a doll. One doll asked the other, “Hi what is your name?” The other twin’s doll replied, “I am Ken Moodity what’s your name?” The first twin’s doll stated, “I am Ken Moodity, nice to meet you.” The fact that they made a character name that had a first and last name caught me as very creative. It has multiple syllables and nothing to do with any movie or TV show that they have watched. My wife was in the next room, and I asked her if she heard what I heard. The banter continued with giggles at the table, “No, I am Ken Moodity.” I asked how they made up such a name, this was brilliant. The wife’s reply was very simple, “Oh, they just watched that song on Sesame Street about ‘Communities’.” Then it hit me, Ken Moodity does sound like community. 

               Maybe you have heard that song before. If not, you can find it on YouTube; ‘Sesame Street: Community Song with Mickey Guyton’. Some of the lyrics include: “I’m here for you, you’re here for me, that’s what makes a community. All of us working together, to make the community better.” It’s a catchy feel-good song and I am glad the girls like it. If anything, it gets the ‘Baby Shark’ song out of my head for a minute.  

               Thinking about the people that work at all the locations for Bruning Bank, most of us grew up in small towns and/or have ties to agriculture. We all serve on boards, volunteer, donate our time, and give back as much as we can. I know multiple employees that still get their boots dirty nights and weekends on their farm. FFA and 4-H projects take a lot of time, and it passes on not only love for agriculture but the helping spirit that contributes to any community. One of our employees started Operation Shine Camp for children with special needs. ‘All of us working together to make the community better.’

               A couple things our management team has implemented that reflects our culture are the Pay it Forward program and Volunteer Time Off (VTO). With the ‘Pay it Forward Program’, the bank allocates each employee a set dollar amount to give to a charitable cause or someone in need in November. In some instances, employees have pooled the dollars to a person or cause. This sounds very simple but the stories and thank you notes we have read will make even a big tough man cry. VTO gives every employee eight hours a year to volunteer during the work week and still get paid by the bank. That truly is a bonus to me because I believe volunteering for a good cause always makes you feel good just by helping. 

               As I am writing this, it is summertime with fairs and community events going on. All these things are put on by people who really care. I love hearing stories from softball to sheep or 4-H puppy shows to pie making. You know behind every one of those events is a good coach/parent/teacher. All of them are trying to give back and create a loving community for the young people. 

               As a bank we are a community ourselves. Think about loans and deposits. ‘I’m here for you and you’re here for me.’ Our mission statement is ‘To Assist our customers in Building and Maintaining Wealth.’ We can help people buy their first home or give a child their first piggy bank. Always trying to help people in our community reach their financial goals.

               Ken Moodity is still in our home; it is a running joke now. If I ask one of the girls if she is Ken Moodity, and I will always get a giggle they will tell me the other twin is Ken Moodity. My wife usually shakes her head and tells me not to fill our children’s heads with nonsense. I believe that it is my duty as a father to dispense the nonsense. There are a lot of serious problems in our society, and I think we can make it better with a little Ken Moodity.