STORY CITY, Iowa — Heartland Pet Hospital and Mobile Practice was able to expand and remodel their facility thanks to a three-prong alliance from Ace Community Credit Union, Community Business Lenders, a CUSO, and an Iowa state program.

Dr. Brenda Bright and Dr. Janice McClatchey Hopkins, the hospital's two owners, contacted $27 million Ace Community CU last year for a loan. The credit union worked with Community Business Lenders, a CUSO owned by the Iowa Credit Union League, Community Choice CU and MEMBERS1st Community CU, which underwrote, documented and funded the loan. The final round of financing came from the Small Business Linked Investments for Tomorrow or LIFT program, an Iowa State Treasurer's Office collaborative between financial institutions and borrowers to provide below market interest rates to qualified small business owners.

Bright said working with Community Business Lenders and the LIFT program was a smooth and simple process.