CUs Support Families & Students Suffering From Economic Hardship

Representatives from the $1.86 billion Credit Union of Southern California in Anaheim – including Board Member Elizabeth Camp (holding the check on the right side) and Business Development representative Courtney French (to the right of Camp) – present CU SoCal’s donation to Interfaith Food Center, one of 20 Whittier, Calif., area organizations and non-profits the credit union recently donated $230,000 to as a way to celebrate Giving Tuesday on May 5. CU SoCal also marked the global day of unity with a $100,000 donation to its employee-inspired charity, CU SoCal Helping Hands.

Volunteers from the $441 million Clackamas Federal Credit Union join staff from Clackamas Service Center to distribute food boxes in the Oak Grove community of Milwaukie, Ore. The Clackamas, Ore.-based credit union partnered with Clackamas Service Center, a local non-profit supporting those who are food insecure, to distribute fresh produce and other groceries to families in need through both deliveries and pickup stations. More than 20 Clackamas FCU staff members will continue volunteering throughout the summer to deliver food boxes twice per week and at pickup stations twice per month.

Two Lansing, Mich.-based credit unions – the $772 million LAFCU and $317.5 million CASE Credit Union – recently pooled donations of $2,500 each to the YMCA of Metropolitan Lansing and obtained a matching grant from the Michigan Credit Union Foundation. The $10,000 gift will provide 8,000 meals to adults through the YMCA’s anti-hunger Healthy Living Mobile Kitchen Program, which saw a near seven-fold increase in need following Michigan’s stay-at-home order to curb the spread of COVID-19. The YMCA program operates a bus (pictured) retrofitted with a kitchen to deliver free, healthy meals to families in need.

The $4.3 billion, San Diego-based Mission Federal Credit Union visits the Southwestern Community College campus during its student computer distribution event, one of the many programs SWC initiated to provide essential services to help students stay in school during the pandemic, on June 7. Mission Fed presented SWC with 25 $100 gift cards, which will be distributed to select students dealing with economic hardships due to COVID-19. From left to right are Angie Lasagna, vice president of community relations and external affairs for Mission Fed; Edith Odeesh, student; Marco Falcon, student; and Ricard Ruffo, senior business development officer for Mission Fed.

CEOs and representatives from New Hampshire’s 15 credit unions participate in a check presentation to Make-A-Wish New Hampshire, an organization that grants the wishes of children with critical illnesses, as part of a virtual event streamed live to YouTube on June 18. The credit unions made a donation of $125,000, marking a 24-year total of more than $3.1 million raised by the state’s credit unions, which remain the largest corporate partners of Make-A-Wish New Hampshire. The online event included a congratulatory message from Cooperative Credit Union Association President/CEO Ronald McLean (middle row, second from right).

St. Mary’s Credit Union ($930 million, Marlborough, Mass.) made a second $10,000 donation to the United Way of Tri County’s Food Bank in Framingham, Mass., to assist those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 17, St. Mary’s committed to donate $250 for every mortgage closing completed through June 30. This second donation brought the total to $20,000. From left to right are Heather Pedersen, mortgage originator for St. Mary’s; Tom Seymour of St. Mary’s board of directors; Barbara LaGrenade, director of Marlborough Community Cupboard for the United Way of Tri-County; Maria Penniman, vice president, retail services for St. Mary’s; and Billy Castillo, assistant vice president and branch manager for St. Mary’s.

Please send your Community news items to Natasha Chilingerian at nchilingerian@cutimes.com.