Maps Credit Union Donates $50,000 to the Salem-Keizer School District

SALEM, Ore. — Maps Credit Union and the Salem-Keizer School District announced that the credit union is donating $50,000 to the district this fall. The district has chosen to use the funds to support athletics.

“Because of our involvement in the local schools through our education branches, we have seen firsthand how hard hit our schools are by recent budget cuts,” said Jill Nowacki, VP of development at Maps Credit Union. “We believe our schools are a cornerstone of the community, and as a community credit union we value supporting our community. This partnership is one step in demonstrating that commitment.”

Nowacki is a firm believer in the importance of extracurricular activities to enhance education and increase students’ confidence and workforce skills throughout their lives, and team sports have been proven to give students skills that their future employers value. “We and the district had many discussions about how to allocate our funds,” she said, “and we ultimately decided that supporting athletics would have the greatest impact most quickly and on the greatest number of students. These programs could have been cut, and our donation also frees up district funds to support academics and other extracurricular activities.”

As a credit union founded by educators, Maps is committed to retaining close ties with local schools and educational programs. Many of its members are teachers or retired teachers, and the credit union counts lifelong learning as one of its community service foundations — the other is economic development. The school partnership honors that education tradition. “I am proud of this partnership.” Nowacki said, “I hope it serves as an inspiration to other businesses to form similar partnerships and help fill some of the other gaps in funding our local schools and a roadmap toward further partnerships for us.”

Maps also instructs students and operates three non-profit student branches as school-to-work labs for high school business courses at North Salem, West Salem and McKay high schools. The credit union works with localnonprofits to provide financial education to community members of limited economic means or with low access to financial services.

Maps Credit Union has come a long way since a group of 17 volunteers joined together in 1935, running the credit union out of kitchens and living rooms in homes throughout Marion County. Today, Maps serves more than 40,000 members in Marion, Polk, Yamhill, Linn,Benton, Clackamas, Washington, and Multnomah counties. The credit union hasnine branches located in east, west, south and central Salem; Keizer; the Willamette University campus; Monmouth; Woodburn; and Silverton.

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For more information, please contact Jennifer Cadiente, Marketing Department
503-588-0181 or 800-688-0181, ext. 3230, or e-mail: jcadiente@Mapscu.com

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