Philadelphia's Nine-Year-Old Jack Leach Wins a $5,000 Scholarship from TD Bank, Defeating About 300 Contestants from Maine to Florida!

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®, today announced the $5,000 scholarship grand prize winner of the PENNY ARCADE, WHAT DOES SAVINGS MEAN TO YOU? 10th Anniversary Celebration contest -- Jack Leach from Philadelphia, Pa! The contest was to celebrate the 10th anniversary of TD Bank's signature Penny Arcade machine -- a fun, interactive coin-counting machine that is a great tool for savings and teaching children about financial literacy. Additionally, TD Bank awarded 10 regional finalists with a $100 TD Bank gift card each to help them start saving.

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On Thursday, Jack walked into a TD Bank store in Philadelphia, and to his surprise, Penny Arcade herself and the TD Bank WOW! brigade surprised the young saver with a $5,000 check! In his winning video, Jack said that "everybody should save" and, as he is saving now, it will help him achieve all of his goals in the future.

A Cub Scout and 4^th grader at Fitzpatrick Elementary School, the ambitious nine-year-old plays the violin, loves to draw and is interested in using his creative nature to study art at a specialty high school and college. In addition to his personal goals, Jack also has a passion for helping others and donates his saved change to "Pennies for Patients", a program that supports leukemia research. The young saver hopes to use his saving skills now to continue to help others on a larger scale as he gets older.  

Throughout the summer, TD Bank ambassadors were on the road at 10 events from Maine to Florida greeting families and inviting children ages 6-12 to step into a TD Bank "Penny Pod" to explain what saving means to them. Children were asked to share their thoughts on savings with the hope that they and their families will start thinking about the importance of financial literacy. Jack beat out nearly 300 contestants from Maine to Florida!  

The public had a chance to vote on their favorite videos in each of the 10 regions. From the 10 finalists, the grand prize winner, Jack Leach, was selected by a panel of TD Bank judges to receive the $5,000 scholarship.

Videos can be viewed by visiting the TD Bank media room: https://mediaroom.tdbank.com

"It's refreshing to see a nine year old who knows the value of money and has started saving already," said Fred Graziano, head of retail banking, TD Bank. "This contest was designed to celebrate Penny Arcade, a TD Bank tool for teaching children about money and savings, and it's a great free coin-counting machine for our customers. Jack is a shining example of a child learning financial literacy and the benefits it brings when you start young."

About TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank^®

TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is one of the 15 largest commercial banks in the United States, providing customers with a full range of financial products and services at about 1,300 convenient locations from Maine to Florida. On September 30, 2010, The South Financial Group, Inc. was acquired by TD Bank Financial Group, and its subsidiary Carolina First Bank merged with TD Bank. Carolina First Bank will continue to operate under the trade names Carolina First Bank in North and South Carolina and Mercantile Bank in Florida until conversion and rebranding in 2011. TD Bank is headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J., and Portland, Maine. Carolina First Bank and Mercantile Bank are trade names of TD Bank, N.A. For more information, visit www.tdbank.com. TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is a member of TD Bank Financial Group and a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada, a top 10 financial services company in North America and one of the few banks in the world rated Aaa by Moody's. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the ticker symbol "TD." To learn more, visit www.td.com.

SOURCE TD Bank