RALEIGH, N.C. – In just 11 short years, members of State Employees’ Credit Union via the SECU Foundation have now invested more than $100 million in North Carolina, helping fellow citizens with high impact projects in the core areas of education, housing, healthcare and human services. Since receiving its charter in 2004, SECU Foundation has been funded through the deferral of SECU checking account holders’ $1 monthly maintenance fee to the Foundation, :using a simple concept and the power of a dollar to demonstrate its strong belief in the cooperative spirit of helping others,” the credit union said.
Through the years, SECU Foundation said it has embarked on many projects that have had a positive effect in North Carolina, beginning with its first initiative to assist both high school and community college students in all 100 counties – the “People Helping People” scholarship program. Allocating $4 million each year, awarding a $10,000 four-year college scholarship to a graduating senior in each traditional public high school and three charter schools, and two $5,000 college scholarships to each of North Carolina’s 58 community colleges, the program’s monetary commitment reached $46 million in 2015. Other Foundation educational initiatives include Continuing Education scholarships, Biz Kid$, and Exploring North Carolina programming, and the SECU Daily Planet – the centerpiece of the NC Museum of Natural Science’s Nature Research Center – that delivers distance learning programs to North Carolina students of all ages.
“Equally as far-reaching are initiatives that help build or expand facilities that address community needs in the areas of housing, healthcare and human services,” the SECU Foundation said. “There are currently four teacher housing projects aiding in the recruitment and retention of educators in counties where affordable housing is extremely limited; 14 hospice homes assisting with end-of-life and respite care patient services; three SECU Family Houses offering affordable accommodations for patients and patient families of those being treated at area hospitals; the SECU Cancer Center in Asheville providing treatment, research and outreach in affiliation with the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC Hospitals; and numerous North Carolina Housing Finance Agency initiatives giving broad-based support for citizens experiencing societal challenges. These projects are but a mere glimpse of the comprehensive list of projects ongoing or currently underway.”