CUs Warm Up Their 2023 Holiday Giving Muscles

Washima Huq (third from right), executive director for the $2 billion, Texas Trust Credit Union’s Texas Trust Gives Foundation, and other Foundation staff kick off the 2023 holiday giving season with a $2,000 check to the Mansfield, Texas-based Mansfield Independent School District’s annual Toys for Tots toy drive. The donation was presented live on the local Fox TV affiliate in Dallas, and will be used to purchase bikes for local children this Christmas. The Foundation will hold a toy drive at Texas Trust branches throughout November and deliver the toys it collects to the Mansfield ISD Toys for Tots Community Drive and Holiday event on Nov. 30, along with another financial donation.

Ascend Federal Credit Union’s volunteer team poses for a photo at a Sept. 23 mobile pantry distribution drive at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lebanon, Tenn. Approximately 30 volunteers from the $4.2 billion, Tullahoma, Tenn.-based Ascend attended the food drive, which provided 22,000 pounds of food to 145 families in need in Lebanon and the surrounding area and was held in partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee. Second Harvest’s 53-foot refrigerated trailer (pictured), was acquired thanks to a $60,000 Ascend donation and has helped the food bank expand its distribution operation.

Merrimack Valley Credit Union ($2.2 billion, Lawrence, Mass.) recently donated $30,000 to Emmaus, Inc. in Haverhill, Mass. MVCU began supporting Emmaus in 1994 and is currently the nonprofit’s longest running and largest corporate partner, having donated more than $500,000 to the nonprofit over nearly three decades. Emmaus, Inc. provides emergency shelter and affordable housing to families and individuals facing homelessness, among other supportive services. Pictured from left to right are Emmaus Development Manager Carlie Hornbrook, Emmaus Director of Philanthropy Gretchen Arntz and MVCU President/CEO John J. Howard.

Credit union and financial counselors pose for a photo at the Michigan Credit Union Foundation’s Financial Reality Fair at the State Capitol in Lansing, Mich., on Oct. 24. The Financial Reality Fair was hosted by four Michigan credit unions – Consumers Professional Credit Union ($133 million, Lansing), LAFCU ($1 billion, Lansing), CASE Credit Union ($399 million, Lansing) and FreeStar Financial Credit Union ($319 million, Clinton Township, Mich.) – and co-coordinated by Ramsey Rood, college advisor at Perry High School in Perry, Mich., and LAFCU. At the fair, approximately 35 Perry seniors navigated lifestyle stations such as Leisure, Auto and Housing with a goal to live within their means.

Rivermark Community Credit Union’s ($1.3 billion, Beaverton, Ore.) Rivermark Community Fund directed its 2023 grant of $25,000 – an increase of $5,000 from previous years – to Community Roots Collaborative (C-Roots), a nonprofit aimed at creating stable and affordable housing. This donation specifically will support building out the kitchen and communal area of its new O-street complex of tiny homes for unsettled residents in Washington State’s Clark County. Rivermark Community President/CEO Seth Schaefer (holding check, in bowtie) is pictured presenting the donation to C-Roots.

The Southern Michigan (SoMi) Chapter of Credit Unions, which comprises eight credit unions in Michigan’s Jackson, Lenawee and Washtenaw counties, recently raised $8,000 for Jasmynn’s Voice at their 2023 SoMi Charity Golf Outing. Jasmynn’s Voice is a nonprofit that aims to give iPads as Alternative Augmentative Communication (AAC) devices to those who have autism and struggle with language deficits or delays. Jasmynn, the namesake of Jasmynn’s Voice (pictured in the front row, second from right), was diagnosed with autism at age three and given her first AAC device at age four, which allowed her to communicate with her family and flourish in life.

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