LA CROSSE, Wis. –Friends and partners of Marine Credit Union donated more than $150,000 to support financial literacy and charitable causes in the CU’s communities as part of the sixth annual Marine Credit Union (MCU) Foundation Golf Outing.
More than 140 golfers participated at the Golf Course at Cedar Creek Country Club in Onalaska, Wis. The event was sponsored by Allied Solutions and had additional event sponsors that included NuSource Financial, MOKA, The Scan Group and Advisors Management Group.
Funds raised advance the work of the MCU Foundation, which is committed to making an impact in the communities Marine serves in two ways: 1) giving out charitable contributions and 2) increasing financial literacy.
To further its mission, the Foundation said it launched Finding HOME in May of 2018 – a free financial literacy and behavior change program designed to help families who do not qualify for a mortgage, achieve homeownership. This 12-18-month program consists of one-on-one financial literacy counseling, educational courses, and resource navigation assistance.
As a result of changed spending and borrowing habits, participants increase their credit scores, reduce debt, and build robust savings accounts – prior to being connected with homeownership. Graduates of Finding HOME are guaranteed access to a market-rate mortgage that fits their budget.
“Three years into Finding HOME, the program has graduated 14 families, and provided a path to financial stability and homeownership to almost 300 individuals,” says the MCU Foundation’s Executive Director, Quinn Devlin. “Watching participants develop a sense of hope as they begin to master their finances has been the most rewarding part. It’s changed their whole lives in a way that even I wasn’t expecting.”
About the MCU Foundation
Since the Foundation was created in January 2014:
- More than $1.2 million has been donated to more than 1300 charitable causes in the areas that Marine serves in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa.
- Marine employees have donated more than $600,000.
- Marine members have donated more than $300,000.
Four in five Marine employees contribute to the MCU Foundation through an automatic payroll deduction. The credit union matches each employee donation – for every dollar an individual donates, Marine donates two.