The employees at United Mississippi Bank have had a roller coaster of a year. But from the bank’s 30th anniversary to the death of a longtime employee’s young son, the workers have weathered the highs and lows together.

&uot;It’s been a big year for us, but it’s been a tough year for us,&uot; said Sammy Porter, president of the bank.

The year has ended on a high note, though, as the bank celebrated its award as Natchez-Adams Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year.

&uot;We were very pleased when they announced (the award),&uot; said Porter, who admitted becoming a bit &uot;emotional&uot; as he accepted it. &uot;It was our 30th anniversary this year, so that was nice. We couldn’t have been more proud.&uot;

UMB was recognized as business of the year in part for the many contributions the bank has made to the community and to chamber projects over the past year.

The bank established a teacher incentive fund to help give moving expenses to new teachers, an effort Natchez-Adams School District officials say is helping to attract new teachers.

Employees are members of civic clubs and organizations throughout the community.

And the bank also contributed to a fund to help establish an employee stock option plan to buy the old International Paper mill, and Porter went along on a trip to North Carolina to see a similar plant there.

The ESOP didn’t work, but Porter said the sense of unity has been a positive outcome of the project.

&uot;It did open people’s eyes,&uot; said Porter, who admitted he was initially a naysayer. &uot;I saw it could be done. Š It sure pulled a lot of people together. It opened a lot of people’s minds that if people put their hearts into something, they can make it happen.&uot;

Putting their hearts into their work is something UMB employees apparently know a lot about.

The bank’s workers &045; who rally together for everything from fund-raisers to monthly birthday parties &045; are a family, Porter said. They helped support vice president Chris Hutchins and his family when Hutchins’ young son, Kyle, died after a long illness. Kyle was the poster child for the American Heart Association’s Natchez Heart Walk, and UMB employees made sure he was honored with record fund-raising.

&uot;We raised a tremendous amount of money,&uot; Porter said. &uot;Every day we had some kind of fund-raiser going on, either inside the bank or outside the bank.&uot;

Such activities are nothing new for the bank, which was founded as First Natchez Bank by James Biglane in 1973. Just a few years later, a &uot;former ski bum&uot;

&045; Porter &045; showed up to be a teller trainee. He stayed two years, left for two years, and returned to work his way up to president.

Porter remembers the bank’s first branch &045; a trailer in a parking lot downtown. &uot;We’ve grown by leaps and bounds,&uot; he said.

The bank now has five branches in Natchez, one in Fayette, one in Centreville and two in Woodville. UMB recently merged with Commercial Bank in Woodville.

Looking ahead to the coming year, Porter said UMB will continue to work on its expansion to Wilkinson and Amite counties.

&uot;That transition has gone very smoothly,&uot; Porter said.

But even as the bank has grown and its employee numbers have swelled to 109, Porter said workers remain &uot;a big family.&uot;

&uot;We try to stay that way,&uot; he said. &uot;We like to keep the employees close.&uot;