PLAINFIELD, IND. — The Avon and Brownsburg offices of Monroe Bank (NASDAQ:MROE) will close for an afternoon, beginning at Noon on Friday, September 12, 2003 giving its employees a chance to give back to the community. The Bank's Plainfield banking center, at 2059 Hadley Road, will remain open normal business hours from 9 am to 5 pm.

As a part of the 12 th Annual Day of Caring for the United Way of Central Indiana, thirteen of Monroe Bank's employees from the Avon banking center, 7517 Beechwood Centre Road, and the Brownsburg banking center, 65 Garner Road, will close up shop early in order to volunteer with the Plainfield Parks and Recreation Department.

"We're going to leave behind our regular duties of depositing, cashing, lending and financing in favor of shoveling, raking, painting and sweeping," said Tiffany Hogstrum, sales associate of Monroe Bank's Avon office. Hogstrum has been helping to coordinate employee efforts for the volunteer project, which will help the Parks Department maintain Plainfield's linear park trails.

This is the second year that Monroe Bank, which opened its first banking center in Hendricks County in late 2001, has participated in the Day of Caring in Central Indiana. Organization-wide, the Company has participated in Day of Caring events through its other banking centers in Monroe, Jackson and Lawrence Counties for the past eight years. Monroe Bank provides a full day's pay to each employee that takes the afternoon off to volunteer during the Day of Caring.

In 2002, Monroe Bank's Day of Caring workforce provided a combined 700 hours of hands-on volunteer service, equaling approximately $10,500 in donated salaries and benefits. Additionally, the Bank matched employee pledges to the local United Way and United Fund chapters to contribute nearly $35,000 to the organizations' fund drives in late 2002, in addition to the Bank's many other financial contributions and donations made to benefit its communities.

Monroe Bank was established in 1892 in Bloomington, Indiana and is the wholly owned subsidiary of Monroe Bancorp, an Indiana bank holding company headquartered in Bloomington. Monroe Bank offers a full range of financial, trust and investment services to its more than 20,000 retail and commercial customers through offices in Monroe, Jackson, Lawrence and Hendricks counties. The Company's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ ® National Stock Market under the symbol MROE.