Celebrate National Volunteer Month this April!

April is National Volunteer Month, and the month is dedicated to honoring all of the volunteers in our communities, as well as encouraging volunteerism throughout the year.

WCCU Credit Union was recently awarded the 2018 First Place Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Community Service Award from Wisconsin Credit Union League. The award recognizes a credit union for its social responsibility and charitable project’s that support their communities.

WCCU received the award for their “Lend A Hand Day.”  With 140+ staff, WCCU provided over 1,000 hours of service by lending a hand. Small teams spent the morning helping a variety of organizations by cleaning, painting, landscaping, organizing and assisting various organizations. In the afternoon, the staff came together to assemble donations and organize deliveries of food, personal care items, and fleece blankets 120 Hygiene Kits containing personal care items were assembled and delivered to local shelters, 250 Sack Lunches were put together and donated to local schools that provide weekend meals for students, 264 Fleece Blankets were cut and tied and sent to EMS and Fire Departments and shelters. 650 pounds of food and 400 pounds of litter were delivered to our local humane societies/animal shelters.

“Credit unions’ structure as not-for-profit financial cooperatives owned by their members ensure that we give back to the communities where our members live and work,” said Kevin Hauser, WCCU President. “Because we have no stockholders – just members whose financial well-being drives our decision-making – we consistently strive to return value to the places and projects our members care about.”

“This outstanding example of involvement in community causes is an ongoing testament of the value of choosing a locally owned credit union,” said League President & CEO Brett Thompson. “Because credit unions answer only to the local people who use them for their borrowing and saving – not some small, faraway group of stockholders – they preserve a method for local citizens to meet one another’s financial needs as well as ensure quality of life in the community at large.”

In early 2019, WCCU advanced to national-level judging among similar-sized institutions.

The award is named after Dora Maxwell, an early credit union pioneer who organized hundreds of credit unions, developed volunteer organizer clubs and worked with organizations to help people in need.