CUs Help Ukrainians, Low-Income Homeowners & the Hearing/Vision Impaired

Arlington Community Federal Credit Union staff present a $10,000 grant to representatives of local non-profit Rebuilding Together-Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church (AFF), which serves low-income homeowners. The grant was part of a national give back program award from payments CUSO PSCU to be given to a local nonprofit of the $412 million, Falls Church, Va.-based credit union's choice. Arlington Community chose Rebuilding Together-AFF based on the two organizations' shared vision for housing in the Northern Virginia region. The funds will contribute to the non-profit's general operations and provide unrestricted funding for the organization.

From left to right, SESLOC Federal Credit Union ($1.2 billion, San Luis Obispo, Calif.) President/CEO and California-Nevada Credit Unions for Kids Wine Auction co-chair Geri LaChance; the event's Miracle Child, Mina Longo; and Stanford Federal Credit Union ($3.8 billion, Palo Alto, Calif.) President/CEO and event co-chair Joan Opp pose for a photo during the auction. The event took place in person last month at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, Calif., raised a record $1.5 million for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, drew over 450 attendees, and was supported by 62 credit unions, business partners and hospitals. Longo recently underwent kidney surgery at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego.

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The $3.9 billion Jovia Financial Credit Union in Westbury, N.Y., recently donated $2,500 to the non-profit Helen Keller Services (HKS) as a result of a fundraising campaign created by Jovia's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. The campaign ran from Jan. 4-28 and included "dress down" days and a raffle to encourage staff to make donations. Jovia's DEI committee chose HKS as the donation recipient to commemorate the Jan. 4 birthday of Louis Braille, the inventor of the Braille reading and writing system. HKS helps individuals who are blind, visually impaired, DeafBlind and/or have combined hearing-vision loss to live, work and thrive. Pictured from left to right are Jovia Chief Development and Marketing Officer Mary Fu, HKS Associate Executive Director Liz Meade, Jovia CFO Karen Smith, Jovia Assistant Vice President, Member Knowledge Strategist Yasser Tatari and Jovia Collections Supervisor Dorothy Mitchell.

The Security Service Charitable Foundation, the charitable arm of the $10.4 billion, San Antonio, Texas-based Security Service Federal Credit Union, recently donated $2,500 to Golfers Fore Others (GFO), a charity home repair and renovation organization in Boerne, Texas. The donation will cover the costs of flooring repair and installment for two mobile homes for families in need. Pictured are Security Service SVP of Corporate Communications Brandy Ralston-Lint (center), and from left to right, GFO members Les Huffman, Fred Martin, Tom Fuchs, Chris Buckingham, Bob Dibble, Rich McCormick and Bruce Goodwyn.

The $3.9 billion, Philadelphia-based American Heritage Credit Union recently partnered with the Ukrainian National Women's League of America, Inc. (UNWLA) to collect donations for civilians in Ukraine who have been displaced or injured due to recent events. American Heritage associates collected thousands of high-demand items during a two-week drive, including first-aid supplies, outerwear, non-perishable foods, toiletries, diapers, and baby formula and food. UNWLA shipped the items directly to organizations and families in Eastern Europe. American Heritage President/CEO Bruce K. Foulke also recently completed a humanitarian visit to Poland, where he assisted with delivering medical supplies to refugees, and met with credit union leaders from Poland and Ukraine to identify opportunities to provide immediate monetary, logistics and equipment support to Ukrainian refugees, as well as longer term programs to help restore economic development to Ukraine. Pictured from left to right are American Heritage associates Lauren Greenly, Lawrence Meehan and Kirstin Wilson (standing); and Yuliya Stupen, Laura Goodman and Tom Beck (kneeling).

Black Hills Federal Credit Union ($1.9 billion, Rapid City, S.D.) recently made a $1,420 donation to the American Heart Association. As a part of the credit union's Community Action Team (CAT) program, a fundraiser is held each year for the AHA. Run internally by BHFCU staff members, the CAT program was developed in 1996 to provide staff the opportunity to fundraise for and provide resources to causes near to their hearts. Pictured from left to right are Becky Brown with BHFCU, AHA Regional Director Robin Albers and Amber Usera-Morris with BHFCU.

Please send your Community News items to Natasha Chilingerian at [email protected].

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Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.