The New York Credit Union Association will present several state-level Recognition Awards to credit unions, chapters and individuals at the 2018 Annual Meeting & Convention. Today’s featured award is the Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Community Service Award, which honors credit unions that strengthen local institutions and materially improve the lives of non-members through community outreach programs other than financial education.
This year’s first-place winners include Horizon’s FCU and SeaComm FCU. GPO FCU received an honorable mention.
Horizons FCU is receiving the award in the $50 million – $250 million asset category. The credit union is being recognized for its Outstanding Students Program, which was created to distinguish students who excel in scholastics and leadership in and out of school. Students were selected by their teachers and received a certificate of excellence, tickets to a Binghamton Rumble Ponies minor league baseball game on Outstanding Students Night, and the chance to participate in the post-game parade. In addition to publicly recognizing the students for the success, the program also raised awareness about the financial education and youth products offered by the credit union.
SeaComm FCU is receiving the award in the $250 million – $1 billion asset category. In 2017, SeaComm FCU’s “Pay-it-Forward” project provided support to numerous individuals and organizations throughout the North Country. The project included surprising restaurant patrons by paying for their meals; providing the community with complimentary tickets to the movies; pumping and paying for gas for over 260 individuals; donating diapers, baby blankets and swaddles to a maternity unit; filling a toy closet for a medical center’s young patients; giving away prizes to dental office patients; delivering school supplies to less-fortunate children; and supplying a local SPCA chapter with pet food and supplies.
GPO FCU is receiving an honorable mention for sponsoring Paralympic athlete Saul Mendoza, who was competing at the Utica Boilermaker Road Race as a wheelchair participant. As part of the sponsorship, Mendoza provided inspirational talks to a number of organizations in the greater Utica-area.