Fourteen community development credit union volunteers with,among them, over 400 years of service to their institutions andcommunities have been recognized by the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions.

The National Federation recognized the group in honor of Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. whose birthday is celebrated with a federalholiday Monday.

Dubbed the Martin Luther King Drum Majors for Service, thehonorees were chosen, in part, because of the link between CDCUsand the civil rights movement, explained National Federation CEOCliff Rosenthal.

“Many CDCUs were born in response to the injustices, economicand otherwise, that the civil rights struggle sought to address,”Rosenthal said, “so it was only fitting that these CDCU leaders behonored with the Drum Majors for Service Award, named after thelate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

The Federation declared the “common bond” among the honorees istheir “heartfelt dedication, passion and genuine caring for others”and published a statement from one of the honorees, MelvinaJohnson, a board member at All Souls FCU with more than 40 years ofservice to the 200-member, $268,000 CDCU in New YorkCity.

“I joined the credit union movement because there was a timewhen people, in particular minorities, could not get money oraccess to credit, especially in our area [Harlem],” said Johnson.“The credit union, which is now over 50 years old, was formedspecifically to help these people and our community to prosper.

“I got involved because of my deep feelings for the movement andbecause I wanted to help people,” she continued, “I did notanticipate my own personal growth from my volunteer work, butacross the years I have learned much and have gotten such pleasurefrom seeing others in my community learn how to save and to realizewhat being a member of a credit union can do to help them.”