Bay Federal Credit Union employees raised $10,581.82 during the month of May in their annual Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMNH) fundraiser. Thanks to a philanthropic match of $10,000 from CO-OP Financial Services, Bay Federal was able to send over $20,000 to Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Foundation.
Bay Federal received CO-OP Financial Services’ Miracle Match in recognition for its creative fundraising methods. Ways in which Bay Federal raised funds included a pie-in-the-face challenge, a tortoise and hare petting zoo and race, and a “Coin Wars” competition to collect pocket change at the Credit Union’s corporate offices.
“We’re so grateful for CO-OP Financial Services’ partnership,” said Bay Federal President and CEO Carrie Birkhofer. “The Miracle Match kept the excitement up through our entire month-long fundraising campaign, and the money couldn’t go to a more deserving cause.”
With administrative costs covered by Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System, 100 percent of the money raised will be used to help children at the local level. The CMNH program at SVMHS serves sick, injured, and special needs kids in Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties. One of the most impactful ways CMNH does so is through its Individual Medical Needs Grants program, which is open to applications from families in any of those counties. For more information, please visit www.svmhfoundation.org.
“The Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals program not only helps save lives, it enriches them,” said Birkhofer. “Sometimes, an insurance company might not cover the devices or therapies that a child really needs, and that’s when the CMN grant program saves the day.”
Bay Federal Credit Union team members pose with a ceremonial big check for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals at their Capitola Branch headquarters on Wednesday, July 12, 2018.