CUs Make a Difference for Children, Honor Local Heroes

The Osseo Maple Grove Squirt C White hockey team poses for a photo. The team was one of 29 youth hockey teams throughout Minnesota that helped raise $31,948.68 for kids with serious health conditions being treated by Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare in Saint Paul, Minn. The Hiway Hockey Kids4Kids, an award-winning collaboration between the Minnesota Wild, Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota Hockey and the $1.1 billion Hiway Federal Credit Union in St. Paul, encourages youth hockey teams to use their own creative ideas to raise funds for Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare. Teams that raised $500 or more qualified to win a one-of-a-kind team party in a suite at the Minnesota Wild – St. Louis Blues game on Feb. 24. The Osseo Maple Grove Squirt C White team was selected at random from all eligible teams to receive the party, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Xcel Energy Center, a meet-and-greet with Dubnyk and other Wild players, and gifts from the Wild and Hiway.

Employees from the $9.5 billion Security Service Federal Credit Union in San Antonio, Texas, present a $10,000 check donation to an employee of In His Steps Shoe Bank for the purchase of 400 pairs of shoes for children in need. From left to right are Julie Balboa, vice president of member service – South Texas for the credit union; Mary Ann Garza, co-coordinator of In His Steps Shoe Bank; Reverend Dr. Ricky Sanderford, senior pastor for First United Methodist Church of McAllen, Texas; Susan Hellums, coordinator of In His Steps Shoe Bank and Edna Garcia, assistant vice president of member service – South Texas for the credit union. In His Steps began in 1996 at the request of the State Health and Human Services Department, when its staff noticed many children did not have shoes or had severely worn shoes with holes. Today, In His Steps provides 300 to 500 pairs of shoes annually.

Employees from Ascentra Credit Union in Bettendorf, Iowa, present an $11,050 check donation to the Marine Corps Quad Cities Toys for Tots. Pictured from left are Ascentra staff member Megan Guldenpfennig, Toys for Tots volunteers Gunnery Sgt. David Caisse and Cpl. Christopher Galicia, and Ascentra staff member Jennifer Naeve. The credit union and its members teamed up to help families and children in the region during the holidays, raising a grand total of $14,700. With their commitment of giving back to the community, Ascentra introduced a holiday offer that gives back to a local nonprofit organization and members in the areas it serves. For every new auto loan brought to the credit union throughout November and December, the credit union gave $50 to the borrower while also giving $50 to the Marine Corps Quad Cities Toys for Tots program or $50 to The Holiday Network – a nonprofit organization that assists families in Clinton, Iowa during the holidays with food baskets and toys.

Mark Ricca (right), president/CEO for the $2.8 billion Municipal Credit Union in New York, N.Y., and Corey Fernandes (left), vice president of business development and member relations at the credit union honor Yan Poon, an officer with the New York Police Department and Yan Hao Poon, an emergency medical technician with the New York Fire Department, as Most Valuable New Yorkers in an on-court ceremony during the St. John’s University men’s basketball game and first responders night held at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 23. The two brothers were recognized for helping a woman in labor when they both responded to the same 911 call in Times Square. Together, they helped deliver a healthy baby boy. This is the fourth year for MCU’s Most Valuable New Yorker program, which was created to recognize the hardworking men and women of New York City who selflessly go above and beyond to make New York a better place to work and live.

Employees from the $173 million BlueOx Credit Union in Battle Creek, Mich., donate pet supplies to the Animal Rescue Project. BlueOx recently set out to pay it forward to the communities that have supported the organization through the years, as well as encourage kindness and generosity throughout its local communities. The Random Acts of Kindness campaign is also a tie-in to BlueOx’s Kasasa campaign, Take Back Banking, which emphasizes the consumer’s ability to have a checking account that rewards and pays them back. In addition to paying it forward, the credit union hopes to inspire others to act on opportunities to be kind to one another. Although there are many random acts of kindness that can be completed for free, all six branch offices were provided a budget of $250 each and the freedom to choose their recipients.

From left to right, Ann Ellsworth, executive director from the Putnam/Northern Westchester Women’s Resource Center and Mike Mattone, vice president of marketing and member experience at the $58 million Hudson River Financial Federal Credit Union in Mohegan Lake, N.Y., pose with a variety of donated items from the credit union’s staff, members and school partners on Feb. 20. The donations will be distributed to families in need by the PNWWRC to help the organization carry out its mission of providing advocacy, education and services to the community in order to create a safe, supportive environment that eliminates violence against women and children, and promotes gender equality.

Please send your Community news items to Tahira Hayes at thayes@cutimes.com.