By Carl Fauver | [email protected]

Taylorsville resident Cindy Fullmer knows all about bad luck. It’s good luck she’s a bit unfamiliar with – at least until an annual Zions Bank community service project stepped in last month.

Granted, a fancy new blue paintjob on her Majestic Meadows Mobile Home Park (4700 S. 1000 W.) house doesn’t begin to offset the 15 hours per week she used to spend tethered to a dialysis machine. But Fullmer, 69, is thrilled to have a little good luck come her way, courtesy of the financial institution.

“I have never been particularly fond of big banks – until I found out Zions was doing this program,” Fullmer confessed. “There were so many volunteers. They came several times, clearing away branches, cleaning my yard, hauling off garbage – all before they began scraping and painting. Rob and Jen were absolutely wonderful. It’s just one of the nicest things a corporation can do for people.”

Rob Norcross and Jen Bachman spend their days working in the downtown Salt Lake Zions Bank headquarters human resources department. But, for Cindy’s purposes – in the evenings after their button-down shifts – Jen and Rob were her project team captains.

“After our Paint-a-Thon had to be cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic, we were thrilled to get back into the communities this year,” Norcross said. “We look forward to this service project every year and find great satisfaction in transforming the homes and yards of our neighbors in need.”

Zions Bank launched its Paint-a-Thon program modestly in 1991, sprucing up a dozen homes along the Wasatch Front. Since they had to miss the past two years, this was the bank’s 30th annual event. Zions Bancorp claims, “not counting the dollar value of volunteer hours through the years, the bank has donated more than $1.3 million toward beautifying homes in Utah and Idaho.”

Fullmer’s trailer home was one of four residences Paint-a-Thon volunteers took on in Taylorsville. The other 26 homes are scattered over the larger, two-state area. All totaled over three decades, Zions volunteers have scraped, repaired, cleaned and painted more than 1,220 homes.

Of course, as thrilled as she is with her new blue home, Fullmer also admits, her domicile facelift pales in the “good luck department,” to the fortune that befell her 15 months ago.

“Both of my kidneys had to be removed in 2016 because of cancer,” she explained. “For five years, I spent 15 hours per week at Wasatch Dialysis near 3700 S. Main Street. Five hours per day, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. But finally in April 2021 they found a kidney for me and I underwent a transplant. I’ve had a few infections and other issues. I have to be very careful about taking my anti-rejection medications. But, so far, so good – and I am off dialysis.”

“Every year when we take on a new Paint-a-Thon home, I think the same thing: It’s a tough project…but for the right person,” Norcross concluded. “Certainly, with Cindy that is true again this year.”

Other than her three feline roommates – Dusty, Freya and Winston – Fullmer lives alone in her now-blue home. But she can’t wait to show it off to company.

“I have a son, daughter-in-law and two grandkids who I can’t wait to come see (the face-lifted house),” Cindy concluded. “I’ve lived here nearly ten years and it’s never been painted. They are going to love it.”

Zions Bank maintains a waiting list of homes nominated for the Paint-a-Thon program. All the information for adding your address to the list is available at zionsbank.com.