RIVERDALE, Utah– America First Credit Union (AFCU) is donating more than 63,000 meals to the Utah Food Bank for families struggling to access to food during the challenging times brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. An additional 16,548 meals were donated to other agencies, including Three Square Food Bank serving families in Clark County, Nevada.
From Sept. 8 to Oct. 30, monetary donations were collected for the credit union’s annual food drive from AFCU staff, members and community, and the credit union also donated an additional $5,000. This was the first year AFCU hosted a monetary donation drive to support local food banks. In years past, canned goods had been collected at each of the credit union’s 128 locations. In total, employees and members have donated more than 78,072 meals in addition to 200,000 pounds of food to Utah and Southern Nevada families over the past 16 years.
The money donated to the Utah Food Bank and other agencies will be used to feed families in need across Utah, Idaho, Arizona and Southern Nevada.
“This year we saw a huge demand for food assistance. To be responsible to the needs our communities, we made changes to our annual food drive due to COVID-19 by moving from canned good donations at our branches to online donations, but we knew this year is more important than ever to help local families in need,” said Nicole Cypers, AFCU vice president of PR and governmental relations. “Thanks to our wonderful employees and members, who donated to be able to provide meals to our food-insecure neighbors.”
“Thank you to America First Credit Union for your understanding of the issues of hunger in Utah,” Jeanette Bott, Utah Food bank president. “America First has collectively given throughout the state of Utah 359,637 meals since we established our partnership in 1998. Thank you for the extended help, in addition to what you've done this year.”
The credit union is donating $15,381 to Utah Food bank food to help individuals and families struggling with food insecurity.