The American Cancer Society’s annual Daffodil Days fundraiser is a sure sign of spring and this year, volunteers from Lake Sunapee Bank helped put a spring in the fight against cancer by raising over $5,000.

This year’s Daffodil Days event marked the 40th Anniversary for the campaign, and their signature Boyd’s Bear for 2013 was named Ray O. Hope. In addition to selling these signature Boyd’s Bears as well as daffodils to colleagues and customers, a number of Lake Sunapee Bank employees volunteered their time and sales skills at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center/Norris Cotton Cancer Center in Hanover. This year, 16 employees logged 32 hours and helped make the site one of the top sellers in New Hampshire.

Lake Sunapee Bank Loan Operations Manager and Vice President Francetta Raymond, a volunteer coordinator for the cause, says, “This is a banner year for us. We sold 56 bunches of daffodils to our colleagues and bought 53 teddy bears. 28 of those bears we purchased from money raised at our Daffodil Days luncheons, and those bears will be delivered to local children whose lives have been impacted by cancer. We raised $2,615 within the bank, and that was almost double our goal.”

Daffodil Days is an annual fundraiser helping people who face cancer every day in the local community. The program supports those battling cancer, cancer research, and more birthdays by helping people get well and stay well.

Lake Sunapee Bank and its employees have a long tradition of volunteering in the communities the Bank serves. The Bank’s Charitable Action Team encourages employee and corporate involvement by providing volunteer opportunities and recognizing colleagues for their contributions. Bank employees volunteer more than 3,000 hours of their time annually for organizations ranging from local schools and sports teams to national non-profit organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the March of Dimes. Through collection boxes in the Bank’s branches, more than 800 bags of food have been donated to local food banks.