Winter hit families hard this December but REGIONAL Federal Credit Union hit back harder. They saw a need in their community for children’s essentials and, like they do every year, rallied their members together to help.
The B.U.S. Program collects books, underwear, and socks for local children. It also accepts monetary donations. All were donated to the Portage Township School Corporation on the morning of December 16th.
“As an organization, we take in all the schools in our chartered areas,” said Irma Torres, Vice President of Branch Development and Business Banking. “We’re not a big financial institution but one of our missions is to reach out to the community. We see the kids, hear their stories. We see a need. We live our mission, and we are proud of that.”
The new Superintendent for the PTSC, Amanda Alaniz, and her Assistant Superintendent Dr. Deb Dudek were grateful to accept the donations.
“We were in need of this,” said Dr. Dudek. “We’re getting a lot of calls from parents who need coats and shoes. Some kids come to school without socks. Our kids are so blessed to have [the B.U.S. Program].”
The members and staff of REGIONAL FCU were glad to help. They never paused to ask why.
For Sonia Aguilar, the Membership Service Representative who lead the drive this year, it was an experience. “We could see members helping families they did not know. When we told them it was for the schools, they were generous.”
Along with physical items, the drive was able to collect over $2,000 for the school system. With that money, they will be able to buy winter supplies, like hats, coats, and gloves, for students in need.
They are also able to assist families in other ways, like with the Backpack program that provides weekend meals to student on the free lunch program. After accepting the donated items, Alaniz and Dr. Dudek would be checking up on the delivery of 220 turkey dinners being given away for the Holidays.
“These are the things we could not do without the support of our community,” said Alaniz. “[REGIONAL Federal Credit Union] has always been a great partner of ours. The reality is, we have a lot of families who can use a lot of support, especially during the holidays. Children cannot learn without these necessities. It is a blessing that [the community] has put all of these resources back into the Portage Community School System. It means a lot.”
Every branch of the REGIONAL FCU runs a drive for their local school system. They ask members to donate what they can, and give to the B.U.S. program themselves.
“We have some really awesome members,” said Torres. “This is for their kids, their friends’ kids, and their neighbors' kids. Everyone knows someone in need of what we are doing, and we will be doing it again next year.”
