photo by: Niamh Coomey

Building a Better Community Award winner Todd Cover, Belmont County Savings Bank president and CEO, poses with United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley Executive Director Staci Stephen, center, and G. Ogden Nutting Community Service Award winner Lori Jones of YWCA Wheeling during a United Way breakfast event Thursday.

WHEELING — Belmont Savings Bank President and CEO Todd Cover was honored with this year’s “Building a Better Community award by the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley.

The breakfast event was hosted Thursday morning at the Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack, one of the organization’s annual sponsors. Cover’s honor was one of several awards handed out that morning.

Among them was the second G. Ogden Nutting Community Service Award, given this year to YWCA Wheeling Executive Director Lori Jones. That award is named after the late publisher of The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register who spent decades in service to the Wheeling and Ohio Valley communities and was the 2018 recipient of the Building a Better Community Award.

Those who know Cover say he has positively shaped the community in many ways over the years.

Cover serves on multiple boards and is a member of a number of local groups and organizations like the Wheeling Lions Club, Appalachian Growth Capital and the Regional Economic Development Partnership, among others. He previously served as the board president of the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley and continues to work closely with them.

Every speaker at the event touted his dedication to helping others and constantly working to improve his community.

Several credited him with the Belmont Savings Bank’s image as an ever-present pillar of the Ohio Valley, representatives of which are almost always visible at local events and functions.

Staci Stephen, the Board of Directors for United Way, spoke highly of Cover and provided a look into their close relationship professionally and personally. Their sons are best friends and play baseball together at Muskingum University.

Stephen got emotional when describing the time there was a shooting at one of their sons’ games and Cover was the first to reach out to make sure her son was safe.

“It reminded me again of his compassion and integrity,” she said.

She went on to describe Cover’s unwavering support of local schools, nonprofits and businesses.

“Whether it’s for fundraising, volunteer initiatives or simply offering a listening ear, he shows how one person’s actions can ignite positive change,” Stephen said.

Jessica Moore, now Associate Vice President of Foundations and Community Relations for WVU Medicine Wheeling and Reynolds Memorial hospitals, worked closely with Cover in the past. She initially brought him onto the team when he volunteered to be a board member for United Way.

Moore, also a good friend of Cover’s, presented him with the award.

“Being involved in this community and making your way in this community and being a powerful business person and successful in this community starts with volunteerism and Todd exemplifies that,” Moore said.

Cover, who was in attendance with his family, grew emotional as he watched. He said he was not expecting that part of the event.

Cover fought tears as he accepted the award with a short speech, thanking his parents for their ongoing support and the values they instilled in him and shouting out his sons, “the three most important people in his life.”

He emphasized that his priority is always giving back and helping others.

“It’s not about ‘I’m getting an award and I want to be seen.’ You know me, I’m just as fine being in the background. I do it because I want to help people, that’s why we’re all here,” Cover said.

The G. Ogden Nutting Community Service Award was created, Stephen said, to honor Nutting, a champion of the United Way for decades until his passing in 2023 at age 87. The award is presented each year to a member of a partner agency doing standout work in the community.

Jones was named this year’s recipient, Stephen said, because she has repeatedly gone above and beyond the call of duty to assist the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley. The Nutting family has also agreed to add a monetary donation to the recipient’s agency in Nutting’s memory.

Jones said she was very honored and surprised to receive the award.

“We never know what people see, we just know what we do,” she said.

Winners of the Outstanding Volunteer award were Kristen Judy, Wendy Anderson and Andrea Merriman.

The Employee Campaign Champion awards went to Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, Westlake Corporation and Covestro.

Corporate champion awards went to WesBanco, Highmark Charitable Fund and Williams Companies.