As the nation continues to fight the pandemic and the economy slowly starts to reopen, many credit unions are looking for ways to honor members who are among the pandemic's heroes. These are the heroes who were and are still on the front line – battling COVID and ensuring communities continue to function. If a credit union leader decides to give special recognition to these heroes, how can they find them? It is not as easy as looking for capes. Here, we'll lay out an approach to identifying these heroes for the recognition that they have so unselfishly earned.

The first step in this process requires the credit union's leaders to be declarative in the definition of what they consider a COVID hero member. There were many people who kept communities running during the peak of the crisis. Heroes can encompass individuals from a multitude of careers and they are all owed a debt of gratitude, but for purposes of this article the definition of a COVID hero will be medical professionals. Specifically, those who were and still are at the intersection of community necessity and professional commitment.