eing around for 100 years is a big deal, whether it's a birthday or a business.

ESSA Bank & Trust, headquartered in Stroudsburg and branch locations in Brodheadsville, New Tripoli and Blakeslee, celebrated its 100th anniversary on Nov. 10. Instead of giving out trinkets to commemorate the anniversary, ESSA opted to make $600,000 in donations to three nonprofit organizations.The organizations are:• East Stroudsburg University for the renovation of a baseball field that has also used by the community for children's baseball games. The total cost of the renovation project is expected to cost ESU $1.7 million.• A local chapter of the Nature Conservancy for land preservation in the Cherry Valley area.• Pocono Services for Family and Children to help with the costs of renovating a former elementary school building in Coolbaugh Township so they can expand their services."Giving back to the community is why we've lasted so long," said Gary Olson, president and corporate executive officer of ESSA."The community is appreciative of what we do," Suzie Farley, vice president corporate secretary, added.ESSA was founded by John Gish, who was born in Monroe County in 1881. He started off his career as a teacher, and then switched to working as a cashier at the Monroe County National Bank.Gish saw a need for a lending institution that could provide loans to people who wanted to build a house. At that time, people would pay a lumber company for the wood to build a house, pay a mason to do the brick work, etc. But if a person didn't have the money to do this, they didn't have anywhere to go to get a loan, Farley explained.For that reason, Gish founded East Stroudsburg Building and Loan."He had a life of service to the community," Farley said.In addition to founding the bank, Gish also was honorary president of the General Hospital of Monroe County, now known as Pocono Medical Center; and the first chairman elected to the Monroe County Chapter of the Red Cross.Since its beginning as the East Stroudsburg Building and Loan in late 1916, ESSA has grown to encompass 26 branch locations in all four corners of Monroe County, the Lehigh Valley, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and even Philadelphia."It seems inconceivable to me that our little savings and loan has not just survived for 100 years, but has grown into one of the largest banks in Pennsylvania," Olson said, who has been with the bank for 40 years and president for 16 years."The journey of staying in business for a century, for any company, is never easy and requires a bit of luck, but attaining longevity in the community banking business is mostly the result of employees and directors sticking to a philosophy that demands serving customers and communities at the highest level possible," he said.Since its beginning, ESSA has made it through the Great Depression, at least two great recessions, five mergers and entered the stock exchange as a publicly traded company in 2007. Its assets were $20 million in 1971 and have grown to $1.8 billion today."Even though we're bigger, deep down we're the same company," Olson said. "We certainly think of ourselves as a community bank."In preparation for the big day and events planned for the employees and guests, Farley has been accumulating and organizing company memorabilia for 15 years. She and her assistant Hope Jimmerson were also able to find on microfilm the October 1916 article in the The Morning Press announcing the opening of a new bank - their bank."I love that," Farley said. "It was like finding a needle in a haystack."A portion of the article was enlarged to poster size and joined other items on a newly created History Wall.Farley and Jimmerson also converted a room in the headquarters into a company museum, where items like the first official seal stamp, ledgers and marketing materials are on display.