Berkshire Bank's Employees Donate over 6,000 Hours of Community Service on the Company Dime

-Company closes all locations for Xtraordinary Day-

PITTSFIELD, MA, June 13, 2017 - Berkshire Bank, America's Most Exciting Bank®, completed its Xtraordinary Day on Wednesday, June 7, 2017. This event was the second year that the Company participated in community service events concurrently from 1pm - 4pm, closing the entire financial institution including Firestone Financial, 44 Business Capital, Berkshire Insurance Group and RNL Associates as a united effort for community involvement.

During Xtraordinary Day, 92% of the Company, which equates to 1,619 employees, completed 65 projects. From packaging meals to combating hunger to cleaning local parks and delivering financial literacy lessons, over 6,000 hours of service were contributed, with a value of nearly $169,000. The projects helped 75 different nonprofit organizations across the Company's footprint.

The Company recognizes that being a good corporate citizen is about more than just writing a check. As a result, employees received paid time off to volunteer all on the Company dime. The objective of Xtraordinary Day is to show the true power of giving back, by immersing employees in projects that have a meaningful and lasting impact on the communities it serves. It's an affirmation that America's Most Exciting Bank is not a sentiment only to be spoken, but the culture of the company throughout all its regions. Xtraordinary Day is a demonstration of the capacity of the XTEAM, the Company's Employee Volunteer Program.

"We established the X-Team because we truly believe in the transformational power of giving back to the communities we serve," stated Lori Gazzillo, director of the Berkshire Bank Foundation. "Our employees volunteer throughout the year, but Xtraordinary Day is an opportunity to achieve collective impact, providing our teams the opportunity to work together to truly make a tangible difference in their communities."

In addition to volunteer service, Berkshire Bank and its Foundation provide over $2 million dollars annually to support nonprofit organizations in the communities that the Bank serves.

With the continued growth of the Company, this year's Xtraordinary Day included nonprofit organizations and communities across the United States including:

Berkshire County, MA – Assembly of literacy kits in partnership with Berkshire United Way; Downtown guide assembly at Downtown Pittsfield; Clean-up of Housatonic River Walk, Burbank Park and Girls Inc.; Painting at Lee Youth Association, Dalton CRA; Meal assembly for Rise Against Hunger; Financial education at Farmington River Elementary School.

Pioneer Valley, MA – Clean-up and landscaping of the Boy Scouts Camp Moses, YMCA of Westfield, ReGreen Springfield and Amelia Park Children's Museum; Interior painting at Girls Club of Greenfield; Bike build at YMCA of Greater Springfield; Gift wrapping at Birthday Wishes.

Central MA/Eastern MA – Sorting and packaging at Cradles to Crayons and Greater Boston Food Bank; Home build at Merrimack Valley and MetroWest/Worcester Habitat for Humanity; Painting at Centre Street Food Pantry; Feeding and cleaning at MetroWest Humane Society; Camp clean-up at Westborough YMCA and New England Base Camp.

Capital District, NY – Painting, cleanup and landscaping at Mountain Road School, Rebuilding Together Saratoga, Northern Rivers Northeast Parent & Parsons Family Services, Montgomery County ASPCA, and Wait House; Sorting at Regional Food Bank and City Mission of Schenectady.

Central NY – Cleaning and painting at Rome Community and Art Center, Thea Bowman House, Root Farm, Herkimer YMCA, Children's Consortium and Syracuse Boys and Girls Club; Various on-site projects at Berkshire Bank's Manlius Center Road office.

Connecticut – Exercise and cooking with students at Grace Academy and Burns Latino Academy in collaboration with 241 Sports; Riverfront clean-up at Riverfront ReCapture.

Vermont – Weeding and landscaping at Merck Forest Foundation in Rupert and Housing Trust of Rutland County at both Rutland and Ludlow, Vermont locations.

Mid-Atlantic and beyond – Bike build at Hamilton YMCA and Trenton Catholic Academy in New Jersey; Painting at Legacy Treatment Center (NJ) and Clean-up at Friends of Wissahickon (PA). Most FCLS employees will volunteer to tackle hunger in their local communities and around the world. The major project locations include Rise Against Hunger – East Brunswick NJ, Rise Against Hunger – Scottsdale, AZ and Rise Against Hunger – Santa Ana, CA.

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About Berkshire Bank Foundation

Through foundation grants to nonprofits, scholarships to students, environmental programs, and employee volunteerism, Berkshire Bank is making a difference. Each year the Foundation donates $2 million to nonprofits throughout the Bank's footprint and 100% of bank employees provide over 40,000 hours of service through their XTEAM® corporate volunteer program. Berkshire Bank was named one of Massachusetts' Most Charitable Companies by the Boston Business Journal in 2016. To learn more about Berkshire Bank Foundation, visit https://clicktime.cloud.postoffice.net/clicktime.php?X=XID044VFmPUg0164Xd2&U=www.berkshirebank.com%2Fcommunity&T=
BERK&HV=X,U,T,S&H=8d20e67a3d54f4ccb93c7e91b7c13a4ca329d794&S=Y.

About Berkshire Bank

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE: BHLB) is the parent of Berkshire Bank, America's Most Exciting Bank®. The Company, recognized for its entrepreneurial approach and distinctive culture, has $9.3 billion in assets and 97 full service branch offices in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey and Pennsylvania providing personal and business banking, insurance, and wealth management services. The Company has a pending agreement to acquire Commerce Bancshares Corp., the parent company of Commerce Bank and Trust Company, a $2.2 billion bank with 16 branches in the Worcester, MA and Boston, MA markets. To learn more, visit https://clicktime.cloud.postoffice.net/clicktime.php?X=XID044VFmPUg0164Xd2&U=www.berkshirebank.com&T=BERK&HV=X,U,T,S&H=
dc0724794968e4947297d5ead97ec2a79e3ef91a&S=Y, call 800-773-5601 or follow us on: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Documents and/or Photos available for this release:

Caption(s):
Berkshire Bank employees paint picnic tables to get them ready for summer camp at the Gladys Allen Brigham Community Center's Girls Inc. camp in Pittsfield, MA.
Berkshire Bank employees in Syracuse, NY create cards as part of a service project with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Syracuse on Xtraordinary Day.
A Berkshire Bank employees cuts a board on a build project with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Worcester/Metrowest in Northborough, MA

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2dda3f04ef06d17f782aa44a782fa54c2a737fab&S=Y and enter Release ID: 412081