Denise Reschly is celebrating 40 years with People’s Trust and Savings Bank in Riverside.

Denise Reschly started at People’s Trust and Savings Bank in Riverside in a temporary position in 1981, but 40 years later she’s still working with the bank as a personal banker.

“I have had many roles while I’ve been with the bank,” Reschly said. “But I enjoy being a personal banker very much. I get to work with people and help them with their account questions and help set up new accounts and I enjoy that very much.”

When Reschly started at People’s Trust and Savings, the bank was just beginning to switch from manual posting machines to computer technology.

“Throughout the course of my career, I’ve seen a lot of changes in the electronic technology that provides our customers with a lot of opportunities to access their accounts via phone apps and online banking,” Reschly said. “Prior to that they would have to contact the financial institution and ask about their account when we were open, but now they can do that 24 hours a day. That part of the banking industry has been the biggest change that has happened, even in the last five years.”

Reschly said what makes People’s Trust and Savings a unique financial institution, though, is the bank’s involvement in the community, whether it be participating in parades, hosting picnics or even just being able to connect with customers on a personal level.

“When someone walks through the door and we can call them by their first name, that’s one of the highlights or standout features of our financial instution,” Reschly said. “It’s important to recognize each of our customers as individuals and not as an account number. Even people that may not be a customer but have had need of our notary services or they come in for a copy or they’ve cashed a check on a customer here at the bank — we can talk to them and call them by name and ask them how their day is. People like to be recognized as individuals.”

From 1981 to 1985, Reschly worked at People’s Trust and Savings but commuted from her parents’ home until she moved to Riverside in 1985. At that time, she started to get more involved in the community in church activities, Junior Achievement and a dance club.

After her daughter, Olivia, was born, Reschly became involved in Clover Kids and later the 4-H club, where she says she was able to meet many families and new people.

In 2007, Reschly was contacted by a fundraising group for muscular dystrophy and asked to raise money to help support research and people suffering from the condition. Then, the next year, she was asked to raise $1,200 in the matter of 10 days.

“I turned to my daughter, who was in third grade, and she said, ‘Mom, you can do it.’ I said, ‘How am I going to do this?’ and she said, ‘We’ll do it together. We’ll go around the community here in Riverside and we’ll just go door to door and ask them to help us out,’” Reschly said. “I surpassed that request for fundraising and it was the community that helped us do that. Without Riverside residents and the surrounding community, that goal would never have been met, but we raised $1,500 that year.”

Reschly said that for her and Olivia, and her husband Jeff, living in Riverside has been a blessing brought about by Reschly’s 40-year career at the bank.

“Each person has become part of my family. I have a very extended family with the community here,” she said. “I’ve been living in Riverside since 1985 and working here since 1981 so each and every person that comes through that door is a part of my extended family, I believe.”