SCARBOROUGH, Maine–– At a special Reception held at Town & Country Federal Credit Union’s Operations Center in Scarborough, the credit union awarded $25,000 in grants to non-profits serving Cumberland and/or York counties through its 2019 Better Neighbor Fund. The grant recipients were determined through a month-long vote during October that resulted in nearly 13,000 votes cast through the Town & Country FCU Facebook page, a new record.
“The Better Neighbor Fund honors and celebrates some of the wonderful work and services provided a special group of non-profits to communities throughout Cumberland and York Counties,” said CEO David Libby. “Tonight is about people and the spirit of coming together to support and help others, whether it’s providing help to animals, educational opportunities for children or assistance to people in recovery, and a variety of other worthwhile causes and initiatives. You all make our communities better places to live because of your mission and commitment to being better neighbors. Our reception is designed to bring organizations that make a difference together, and to allow them to have an opportunity to speak with your fellow non-profits and to reinforce the fact that we all contribute and care about our community. It was great to see such a high level of engagement with the online voting.”
In 2010, Town & Country introduced the Better Neighbor Fund to celebrate the ideal of neighbors helping neighbors, a concept that has a long and rich tradition in Maine. The credit union has awarded $250,000 to 80 charitable initiatives, to date.
Eight charitable organizations from an original finalist list of 25 nominees were awarded a share of $25,000 from the 2019 Better Neighbor Fund - three received $5,000 grants and five received $2,000 grants.
The 25 finalists were nominated in September through the credit union’s Facebook page, and during October, the public voted online for the project they felt was most deserving to receive one of the eight grants.