West Coast CUs Support Food & Shelter Needs With $100,000 Donations

The $20.4 billion Golden 1 Credit Union made a $100,000 donation supporting California State University’s food and basic needs programs in honor of Giving Tuesday on Nov. 28, the Sacramento-based credit union announced.

California State University, headquartered in Long Beach, operates 23 campuses including one in Sacramento. According to the California Student Aid Commission, nearly one in three California college students faces food insecurity.

Golden 1’s donation – nearly double the amount it gave the university system in 2022 – will help provide college students access to food and essentials.

“Golden 1 is proud to support all CSU food pantries in their critical efforts to give every student the chance to succeed without the fear of food insecurity,” Erica Taylor, vice president of communications and community relations at Golden 1, said. “Student hunger is too often a direct hurdle for students pursuing higher education and it’s a privilege for Golden 1 to contribute to this essential support system for students facing hardship.”

Also on the West Coast, OnPoint Community Credit Union ($8.7 billion, Portland, Ore.) announced that it donated $100,000 to be divided between eight nonprofits that provide food and shelter relief to Oregonians and Southwest Washingtonians. Meals on Wheels People, Rose Haven and the Portland Housing Center will each use a $25,000 gift from OnPoint to advance their missions of providing food security, day shelter and valuable resources to underserved communities in the Portland metro area, the credit union said.

What’s more, OnPoint said it would donate $5,000 to each of the following regional nonprofits: Family Kitchen in Central Oregon, Eugene Mission in Eugene, Ore., Marion Polk Food Share in Salem, Ore., Council for the Homeless in Southwest Washington and McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity in McMinnville, Ore.

Giving Tuesday, which takes places annually the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, was founded in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y in New York City in partnership with the United Nations Foundation as a day that encourages people to do good, according to GivingTuesday.org. Five other credit unions announced community donations and initiatives to commemorate the day:

• The Mountain America Foundation, the charitable giving arm of the $18 billion, Sandy, Utah-based Mountain America Credit Union, donated $28,000 to 25 nonprofits in the six states served by the credit union (Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico and Montana). The credit union asked members and the public to vote for their favorite nonprofits, and those with the highest number of votes received a donation.
• The $7.1 billion, Waterloo, Iowa-based Veridian Credit Union donated $35,000 to six nonprofits across Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota. The nonprofits were nominated by the public and donation amounts were determined by a random drawing. The recipients were: YWCA of Black Hawk County (Cedar Falls/Waterloo, Iowa area), Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, Iowa area), Urban Bicycle Food Ministry (Des Moines, Iowa area), ReConnect, Inc. (Omaha, Neb./Council Bluffs, Iowa area), Onward Eden Prairie (Minnesota’s Twin Cities area), $5,000 each; and Iowa Giving Crew (Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Iowa City and Waterloo, Iowa area), $10,000.

• The $16.8 billion, San Jose, Calif.-based First Tech Federal Credit Union revealed on Giving Tuesday that it had donated over $3.6 million to 137 nonprofit organizations across California, Oregon and Washington in 2023, and that it would round out its annual contributions with a Season of Giving campaign, in which $55,000 would be distributed to organizations chosen during a public nomination and voting period that closed Nov. 30. First Tech said its $3.6 million 2023 tally included $2.23 million in direct charitable giving and $1.5 million in fundraising for Credit Unions for Kids.
• Teachers Federal Credit Union ($9.8 billion, Hauppauge, N.Y.) kicked off its annual Season of Giving campaign on Giving Tuesday, which includes a $50,000 pledge to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Ronald McDonald House and Tunnel to Towers Foundation. The donation amounts for each nonprofit will be determined by a public vote that runs through Dec. 4. The nonprofit that receives the most votes will be awarded $25,000, the nonprofit with the second highest number of votes gets $15,000 and the remaining nonprofit will receive $10,000.
• The Frontwave Foundation, the charitable arm of the $1.3 billion, Oceanside, Calif.-based Frontwave Credit Union, donated $5,000 to the Veterans Association of North County (VANC), also in Oceanside, in honor of Giving Tuesday. VANC offers a variety of programs and services to veterans and active-duty military personnel, such as education, employment, health, housing, legal and social services, and hosts over 30 veteran organizations at its 10,000-square-foot facility.