As the Maine high school basketball season has come to a close, First National Bank is pleased to report the successful results of their signature athletic programming sponsorship “First Hoop.”

Designed to promote team spirit and fan participation, First Hoop was launched in 2005 by First National Bank. Since its inception, the First Hoop program has awarded $274,250 to participating high school athletic departments in the bank’s market area. For the 2021-2022 basketball season, eleven high schools came forward to participate in the program, including Belfast Area High School, Boothbay Region High School, Calais High School, Ellsworth High School, George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill, Lincoln Academy in Newcastle, Medomak Valley High School in Waldoboro, Mount Desert Island High School in Bar Harbor, Oceanside High School in Rockland, Shead High School in Eastport, and Sumner Memorial High School in Sullivan.

Through First Hoop, First National Bank has supported each participating school’s general athletic programming fund by awarding a cash donation at every home court basketball game. The donation awarded at each game was dependent on the outcome of a series of events. Fifty dollars was the base donation, automatically awarded at the start of every home varsity game. Fifty dollars was added to the fund if the first hoop of the game was scored by the home team. Finally, fifty dollars was added to the fund if a randomly drawn spectator (also known as “The First Fan”) successfully made a free-throw hoop at half-time.

In its seventeenth season, First Hoop donated a total sum of $26,150 to the eleven high schools’ sports programming funds. Tony McKim, President and CEO of First National Bank, observed, “Over the past years we have received so many enthusiastic comments about this program from school administrators, employees and fans alike. I want to thank our employees who volunteer their time at these games. Through their effort, First Hoop has made a significant contribution to high school athletics.”