"Rita and Tom's achievements are both extraordinary and unique," related Bob Schumacher, NCUF awards and recognition committee chairman and Wegner awards dinner emcee; he is also CEO of MountainCrest Credit Union in Arlington, Wash.

Schumacher praised Haynes for her guidance of Faith Community's work with lower income members and communities and Sargent for his pioneering work with Credit Unions for Kids.

Through Haynes' visionary leadership, Faith Community United has shown strength, stability and staying power while banks abandoned inner-city neighborhoods, the foundation said when announcing the award. Recognizing that Cleveland-area residents were left with little or no access to basic financial services, Haynes in 1989 converted her single church-based field of membership to a community charter so that the credit union could serve all of Cuyahoga County.

Haynes is perhaps best known for Faith Community's "grace loan" program that the CU launched to help its members break free from payday lenders.

Grace loans are affordable, short-term loans up to $500 that are critical for low-income members to stay free of predatory lenders. They were introduced to Faith Community United members in 1999, after most banks had moved out of inner-city Cleveland and high-cost payday loan stores moved in.

Haynes and her staff developed a competitive program that made the deposit advance loan process quicker and easier. Borrowers must participate in an automatic savings program that helps them save at least $10 per month–even while living on fixed incomes and facing escalating prices for gas, groceries and medicine.

During the past eight years, the Amazing Grace program has delivered 21,696 loans totaling over $7.1 million, the foundation reported, adding that 75% of these borrowers had previously filed for bankruptcy. Credit scores for 43% of borrowers were between 400 and 499, and 18% of borrowers had no score before being approved by the credit union. But the CU reported a delinquency rate of less than 0.1%.

Tom Sargent is perhaps best known for his career-long commitment to the Credit Unions for Kids program, an effort that repaid him in a priceless way.

Twenty years after Sargent helped build a new Children's Hospital facility through his fundraising for the Credit Unions for Kids program, his newborn granddaughter Vivian's life was miraculously saved in that very same hospital.

Now as the volunteer chairman for the Children's Miracle Network board of trustees, Sargent's fundraising benefits 17 million kids in 170 Children's Hospitals across North America. Sargent is the first person from the credit union movement to be elected as CMN chairman.

Sargent began his work with CMN in 1986 when he made a commitment with six other Oregon and Washington credit union leaders to "make a difference in the lives of local children." Sargent's enthusiasm was contagious as he raised more and more funds for Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, Ore., the foundation related in its award announcement.

"Because of Tom's effective leadership and guidance, the program grew from a local fundraiser to a national program," recalled Pamela Leavitt, senior vice president for the Credit Union Association of Oregon. Some of Sargent's unique fundraising ideas ranged from wine auctions to cattle round-ups to motorcycle rides.

"No one could–or can–refuse Tom Sargent when he asks for assistance in helping kids," related Jim Blaine, president of State Employees' Credit Union in Raleigh, N.C. "You always know that Tom Sargent asks for the right reasons; he asks from the heart."

Sterner will be honored as both an organizer of credit unions in this country and an organizer of cooperatives overseas.

"Bill's memory shines on in all our lives," said Wegner award nominator John Dill, president/CEO of the Credit Union Association of Colorado as well as the Credit Union Foundation of Colorado and Wyoming. "Bill's strong commitment, vision, and innovation to foster growth in the credit union industry will continue to inspire and help advance future generations and new frontiers."

Sterner began his professional journey in the 1960s, when he worked for seven years with the Peace Corps in South America. Serving his first three years as a Peace Corps volunteer leader and program training officer, Sterner helped villagers in Colombia and Ecuador establish financial cooperatives.

The foundation also recognized Sterner for his role in saving the Credit Union Development Education program in the face of severe budget cuts.

As a vice president at CUNA in the early 1980s, Sterner recognized the need for a program that would teach cooperative principles and credit union philosophy as a sustainable business model into the next century. Sterner successfully advocated for federal legislation establishing Biden-Pell grants that empowered credit union leaders to launch the development education program.

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