NEW ULM — This October, EON and MBW Company along with The ESOP Association and the employee ownership community, will be celebrating Employee Ownership Month, which is a tribute to the incredible spirit of employee ownership.

Employee Ownership Month is an opportunity for ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) companies across the U.S. to educate employee owners and the public about the tremendous benefits of ESOPs. Companies celebrate with picnics for employee owners, roundtable discussions with local public officials, and award ceremonies to honor outstanding employee owners.

“I’m pleased to announce that October is Employee Ownership Month and I always enjoy the month-long celebrations with my fellow employee owners.” commented Ric Nelson, President & CEO. We are proud to be an ESOP company and strongly believe in the power of employee ownership.” We embrace our core values of ownership, leadership, focus, knowledge and nurturing to guide us forward and our core focus of enriching lives by supporting independence to those we serve and the employee owners who are invested in them.

EON / MBW Company has weekly planned activities during the month of October to further foster employee ownership culture and comradery within the EON organization.

Employee Ownership Facts:

• There are approximately 10,000 ESOPs in place in the U.S., covering 10 million employees.

• Total assets owned by U.S. ESOPs are estimated to be $869 billion.

• The Economic Performance Survey conducted by the Employee Ownership Foundation in 2014 found that: • 70% indicated revenue increased; 30% indicated revenue decreased

• 64% indicated profitability increased; 36% indicated profitability decreased

• 64% of companies have created an ESOP education program or ESOP advisory committee since establishing the ESOP

For more information on ESOPs and Employee Ownership Month, please visit The ESOP Association’s website at http://www.esopassociation.org/advocate/employee-ownership- month.