Arizona Central Credit Union (ACCU) was named winner of two prestigious community service awards from the Mountain West Credit Union Association.
The recognition includes the 2015 Community Impact Award and first place in a regional competition for the 2015 Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Community Service Award.
The Mountain West Credit Union Association is a regional association representing 125 member credit unions and 3.1 million credit union members throughout Arizona, Colorado and Wyoming.
The announcement of the Community Impact Award was made shortly before ACCU officials learned they had also won the Dora Maxwell Award. For both recognitions, Arizona Central was selected over all credit unions throughout the region in the same asset class that entered the two annual award programs.
“People Helping People is a philosophy and founding principle of the credit union movement. However, at Arizona Central our Central Cares Program and dedicated staff have taken this commitment to a whole new level,” said Todd Pearson, AZCU president and CEO.
With 217 actively volunteering employees, during 2015 Arizona Central participated in 87 community impact activities and donated over 2,000 hours of service. Within those activities, Credit Union staff also raised $97,450 to benefit the Cancer Support Community of Arizona, a local non-profit organization dedicated to providing support, education and hope to people personally affected by cancer as well as their loved ones.
“Our staff excels at recognizing important needs in our local community, and they generously opened their arms and hearts in 2015 to support the Cancer Support Community of Arizona,” Pearson said. “I’m extremely proud of the commitment they’ve demonstrated to supporting this organization in so many meaningful ways!”
The Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Community Service Award was established by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) to encourage credit union involvement in community projects and activities. Dora Maxwell was a pioneer in the American credit union movement who served on the first Board of Directors of the New York State Credit Union League In the 1920’s, and in 1931 helped to organize the Credit Union National Extension Bureau which later became CUNA. In addition to organizing hundreds of credit unions, Maxwell developed volunteer credit union organizations to help improve the living standards of the poor and needy.
