CUs Award Cars, Grocery Gift Cards & School Supply Money

Staff from Kinecta Federal Credit Union ($5 billion, Manhattan Beach, Calif.) host the credit union’s 47th annual Thanksgiving food giveaway on Nov. 22, raising more than $90,000 to aid more than 1,000 local families in need this holiday season. During the drive-up event held at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., families selected by nearly 40 community-based organizations received a bag of traditional Thanksgiving food items and a $75 gift card to help complete their holiday meal. Among the community partners benefitting from the drive were the Al Wooten Jr. Youth Center, Athens Park Tiny Tots, Carson Boys and Girls Club, City of Hawthorne Project Gobble, LA Child and Family Services, Salvation Army of Compton, Watts/Century Latino Organization, Richstone Family Center and Jesse Owns Park Community.

Karl Perkins, a single father who moved to Albuquerque, N.M., from New York City in 1992 for a fresh start after incarceration and began classes at the statewide small business development and training organization WESST in 2004, tests out his awarded vehicle. As part of a collaboration with the Baltimore-based nonprofit Vehicles for Change, The New Mexico Office of the Attorney General, DriveTime Automotive Group, Inc. and WESST, the $3 billion, Albuquerque-based Nusenda Credit Union donated a safe, reliable vehicle to Perkins and three other state residents referred by WESST. Nusenda is servicing the auto loans with flexible and reasonable terms over a year-long period. The other recipients were community organizer and paralegal Adriana Vilar, farmer Reuben Preut, and native Venezuelan and restaurant owner Ronsuelvic Cavlieri.

The $3 billion, Tullahoma, Tenn.-based Ascend Federal Credit Union donated $14,515 to the Central Tennessee chapter of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The contribution includes $10,000 from the credit union and $4,515 from Ascend employees. Through the annual dress down program Passionately Pink for a Cure, Ascend employees donated a minimum of $5 every Friday and Saturday in October to wear blue jeans, breast cancer awareness T-shirts and Susan G. Komen pins to work. The money will help fund local breast cancer detection and support projects for those with critical needs. Pictured from left to right are Ascend Chief Strategy Officer Leslie Copeland, Ascend President/CEO Caren Gabriel, Komen Central TN CEO Dawn Eaton, Ascend Business Development Coordinator Amy Taylor and Ascend Assistant Vice President of Business Development Erin Spence.

The $353.4 million, Rochester, N.H.-based Holy Rosary Credit Union donated $2,500 to Community Partners, a state-designated nonprofit Community Mental Health Center in New Hampshire’s Strafford County, to support the Dover Mental Health Alliance (DMHA). The DMHA is a community collaboration formed to educate and inform all citizens about mental health, mental illness and suicide prevention. Pictured from left to right are Suzanne Weete of Community Partners, HRCU President/CEO Brian Hughes and Keller Williams Realtor Melissa Lesniak, a Dover rotarian and DMHA member.

On Nov. 13, World Kindness Day, the $1.6 billion Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union in Lowell, Mass., surprised customers at the Fletcher Street Market Basket in Lowell with gift cards and tote bags as part of its Small Acts That Give Back initiative. For the past three years, Jeanne D’Arc president/CEO Mark Cochran and credit union team members have surprised shoppers by handing out 100 $15 gift cards to assist with their shopping. Pictured are Robin Lorenzen (back row, left), vice president – marketing and financial education for Jeanne D’Arc; Cochran (back row, second from left); Alison Hughes, community engagement officer for Jeanne D’Arc (back row, right); Mike Morowski, Market Basket store manager (back row, second from right) and the Fletcher Street Market Basket team.

Pelican State Credit Union ($524 million, Baton Rouge, La.) awarded $3,300 for school supplies to 12 school teachers in each of its branch parishes during its annual Teacher Bulletin Board Contest. The contest encouraged teachers to submit a photo of their bulletin board, classroom door or virtual learning background for a chance to win up to $350 for school supplies. Winners were determined based on how many reactions, or votes, each submission received on Pelican’s Facebook page. The winning teachers received $250 each for school supplies; the three highest vote-getters – Kasey Theriot, Amanda Gann and Nicole Sparks – received an additional $100. Pictured from left to right are Pelican Denham Springs Member Service Representative Lundyn Springer, Gann and Pelican Assistant Branch Manager Megan Laird.

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