Meskwaki Travel Plaza becomes the fourth Iowa Ambest location

TAMA — Meskwaki Travel Plaza is now the fourth Iowa truck stop that is a recognized AMBEST loyalty location. AMBEST is a member-run reward program that provides truck drivers and other diesel fuel consumers reduced fuel costs and other rewards at independent travel centers around the country.

AMBEST offers a loyalty card called AMBUCK$ that drivers swipe when filling up their diesel tanks. By swiping the card they rack up points that can be redeemed as currency. Each gallon of diesel fuel equals a penny and these points can be used on anything besides cigarettes and diesel fuel at Meskwaki Travel Plaza.

The AMBUCK$ card also gives members a chance to enter in any of their contests. This summer, AMBEST’s contest is for a Polaris Slingshot that they will be taking on a tour around the country.

GNB Bank invests in the community

Each year, April marks Community Banking Month, a nationwide celebration recognizing the many contributions community banks make to their customers and communities. The Community Bankers of Iowa organization states that community banks are part of a statewide network of more than 300 community banks representing more than 1,000 communities across Iowa and employing more than 5,000 Iowans. Iowa’s community banks have in excess of $3.2 billion dollars in loans to consumers, small businesses and the agricultural community and community banks pay millions of dollars in taxes to Iowa and their local communities.

GNB Bank celebrated by donating $1,000 each to the community betterment projects in local communities. Customers were asked to simply tell GNB what they’d do with the opportunity to give back and make a difference in their community. Entries were accepted on GNB’s website during April.

The recipients selected from GNB Bank’s Marshalltown location were the Rhodes Fire Station and the Marshalltown Softball Association.

The current Rhodes fire station was built in 1960 and although it’s served in the capacity for many, many years, it has come time to upgrade the structure to meet the current needs of the volunteers. This is a large project and will be broken up into three phases with Phase 1 beginning in May 2019. This first phase includes initial site preparation such as foundation work and basic plumbing and electrical.

“We have secured much of the funding needed to complete the project, however, we are still short $180,000 of the expected project cost,” Harlan Kloppenborg said.

Since 2017, Marshalltown Softball Association has been providing adult softball and kickball at the Marshalltown 6th Street Softball Complex. This non-profit organization also hosts youth baseball tournaments, annual slow pitch tournaments and events such as Blessing of the Bikes. The funds from GNB Bank will be utilized to repair the sprinkler system on the complex.

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