The AmFirst Food Drive & Why I’m Thankful This Year

As credit union employees, we know that service to our communities often means going far beyond day-to-day financial support. Credit unions across the country have amazing community engagement programs providing all sorts of assistance and service – from financial education to fundraising. As brand management officer for the Birmingham, Ala.-based America’s First Federal Credit Union (AmFirst), I am fortunate enough to work at one such institution.

In 2019, our employees and members raised $120,000 through a variety of fundraising events ranging from small-scale bake sales and team lunches to large events, such as our annual golf tournament and sporting clays competition. All funds were distributed evenly to three local charities as part of our longstanding Community First program. Piggybacking off a successful 2019, we hoped our 2020 results would exceed last year’s efforts. As you can imagine, things went a bit differently than we had planned.

In April, as the COVID-19 pandemic was upon us, we first cancelled our annual sporting clays competition and hoped that additional activations would not be impacted. As the weeks passed, however, it became clear that we would need to cancel all of our events – including our golf tournament, which raised nearly $60,000 just the previous year.

We were coming to the realization of having zero 2020 events, and to say that we, as a company, were distraught would simply be an understatement. It was difficult letting our charities know that our fundraising efforts would need to be postponed until 2021, as we knew they were counting on us for support. You probably had a similar experience at some point this year yourself; it has been a difficult one in so many ways.

I’ll forever be proud of our staff for not letting it end there, however. We knew we couldn’t do our usual Community First fundraising campaign, but we began to actively look for a way to help our communities that we hadn’t considered in the past. And it didn’t take long for us to find a new – and timely – cause.

We heard multiple reports of families in our community struggling with food shortage and hunger amid COVID-19. Sure enough, when we reached out to a few local food banks, they confirmed that the pandemic was exacerbating the already pressing need our community had for food. And with kids out of school, food needs were even greater. Knowing the need was being compounded by a worldwide pandemic, our employees and members rose to meet the challenge.

We collaborated with our local ABC affiliate (ABC 33/40) to conduct the Feeding Families Across Alabama Food Drive during the month of July. During the food drive, non-perishable food items were welcomed for drop-off at any one of AmFirst’s 21 branches. In addition, monetary donations were accepted with funds going straight into the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama. Our staff held competitions to see which department could raise the most food, our members were very generous with their donations, and ABC 33/40 did an excellent job of promoting the drive with its on-air talent and news programs. All in all, our employees and members raised $26,675 and collected 20,672 food items — roughly 222,626 meals that went directly to feed families across 12 counties in Central Alabama. It was an amazing success, especially considering that we put it all together in such a short timeframe.

As credit unions, we have a responsibility to our communities; it is understood in our mission. Even when times are challenging for us – logistically or financially – that does not free us from upholding our principles. It would have been easy to simply write off 2020, pack it in, and say, “We’ll try again next year.” 2020 brought unprecedented challenges, but we can be proud about getting up and carrying on with our work as a credit union in serving our community. In fact, I can say that this otherwise terrible year gave us at AmFirst an opportunity to show our members and community what we are really all about.

As the year comes to an end and the holidays arrive, we as individuals have the opportunity to reflect. Each of us has so much to be thankful for: Our families, our lives, our friends and coworkers, our careers – and ultimately, the fact that 2020 will be over soon. Those of us who were able to adapt and continue to serve our members and communities amid a global pandemic should be especially grateful this holiday season.

Kyle McDougal is Brand Management Officer for the $1.89 billion America’s First Federal Credit Union in Birmingham, Ala.