STERLING – The Clinton (Iowa) Humane Society is the $20,000 grand prize winner of the Sterling Federal Bank third annual Employee Charity Challenge

The $10,000 second-place winner is Pinecrest Community in Mt. Morris and $5,000 third-place winner is Happy Tails Humane Society in Rock Falls.

The $1,000 winners are Rock River Hospice and Home, Pads Women & Children Shelter, Granny Rose Animal Shelter, Home of Hope Cancer Wellness Center, Hope of Ogle County, L’Arche and Community Christmas for Children.

The charities are chosen by the bank’s employees, but community members choose the winners by voting on the bank’s Facebook page during the month of March. More 21,000 votes were cast.

Sterling Federal Bank, chartered in 1885, is a federal mutual savings bank with offices in northwestern Illinois and eastern Iowa.