POCATELLO — The home of a 75-year-old Pocatello woman received a makeover by local Zions Bank employees recently as part of the company’s 23rd annual Paint-a-Thon service project.

    Zions bankers traded balance sheets for brushes to give a fresh coat of paint to the home of Carole Evans.

     “Zions Bank strives to create value in our communities, and this is a great way to do that,” said Rob McMinn, Paint-a-Thon team co-captain and manager of Zions Bank’s Pocatello Yellowstone Financial Center.

    Paint-a-Thon brings together more than 3,500 Zions Bank employees and their families to help elderly, low-income and disabled homeowners in both Idaho and Utah. Volunteers will clean, scrape, and paint 50 homes this summer.

    The average age of this year’s homeowner is 76, and the average monthly income is $1,524. Projects completed during the annual week-long event were selected with the assistance of state housing agencies, community organizations and local churches.

     Zions Bank officials indicated in a news release that they are committed to helping senior citizens remain in their homes as long as possible.

    Co-captain Lisa Johnson, a teller at the Pocatello Old Town Financial Center, says she looks forward to the Paint-a-Thon project every year.

    “Helping our elderly neighbors spruce up their homes and beautify our local neighborhoods is a rewarding service project,” Johnson said.

     In addition to painting homes, Zions employees will provide yard cleanup, pruning, mowing, planting and minor repairs as needed by homeowners.

    The cost for all paint and supplies is contributed by Zions Bank.

     Launched in 1991, Zions Bank’s Paint-a-Thon began as a volunteer project for a dozen homes along Utah’s Wasatch Front. 

    Over the past two decades, Zions Bank employees have put aside summer pastimes for a week each year — volunteering in the evenings after work and on Saturday — to paint a total of 888 homes throughout Idaho and Utah. 

    Not counting the dollar value of volunteer hours through the years, the bank has donated more than $973,000 toward beautifying homes in the two states.