CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State Credit Union is reporting its 2017 philanthropic effort will exceed $200,000, with the largest gift directed to Oregon-based Children’s Miracle Network hospitals Doernbecher in Portland and Sacred Heart in Eugene, which will benefit from $35,000 generated through an internal campaign match.
The credit union has dedicated dollars to the local Children’s Miracle Network facilities for six consecutive years and that accumulative total now stands at $131,000. The 2017 amount included a match of $5,000 from the credit union’s ATM and shared branching partner, CO-OP Financial Services, which provided the grant out of their Miracle Match program.
The 2017 Oregon State Credit Union philanthropic effort was distributed among approximately 175 schools, nonprofits and scholarship recipients located within the credit union’s 24-county field of membership in western and central Oregon.
The total also included capital projects gifts to the Corvallis Boys and Girls Club, ABC House and continued annual commitments to the Samaritan Cancer Center and the Oregon State University College of Business.
A majority of the annual credit union donation total is directed with an emphasis on youth and education. Many of those dollars are tied to scholarships established at the universities and community colleges in our counties with branch presence including OSU, Western Oregon University, Linn-Benton, Oregon Coast and Chemeketa community colleges.
In addition, the credit union has a long established Tomorrow’s Leaders Today Scholarship Program that is now in its 19th year and has awarded 181 scholarships to high school seniors on their way to a college or university in the state of Oregon. That program currently selects ten recipients for scholarships of $2,000 each. K-12 students in our field of membership also benefit from education grants totaling $15,000 annually and applied for online by local teachers.
“We prioritize education as a core value of this credit union,” said Oregon State Credit Union CEO Richard Hein. “We are passionate about the development and well-being of our local youth as approximately 60-65% of our donations are dedicated to support our schools and youth-related social services. Case in point, the national credit union support for Children’s Miracle Network, dubbed CU 4 Kids, actually originated in the state of Oregon.”