ANDOVER, MN (August 24, 2021) — Minnco Credit Union has been honored with a 2021 Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Community Service Award. The award, sponsored by the Minnesota Credit Union Network (MnCUN) and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), recognizes credit unions for the activities they coordinate that benefit their community or a specific charity.
The credit union was honored for its “Minnco Moments” program. Over the past several years, Minnco has actively encouraged its employees to head out into their communities with one purpose in mind: to spread kindness. Each employee is provided a sum of money to go out into the community to do just that – spread kindness. Minnco started with one day of kindness; the next year it changed to a week of kindness. The impact it made in people’s lives was so encouraging, Minnco decided to make it a year-round endeavor!
Last year, in the midst of COVID-19, Minnco partnered with the Minnco Foundation to make an even larger impact. In addition to impacting individuals, Minnco knew that many non-profits were also struggling and needing assistance. Minnco took the universal credit union motto of “People Helping People” and tweaked it into “People Helping People Helping People.” Minnco Credit Union and the Minnco Foundation asked each branch office to select a local non-profit organization they could support through a financial contribution and by volunteering staff time.
“Minnco has strived to be a ‘good neighbor’ to impact the lives within our communities. I recognize the significance of this award in that it was achieved during the COVID-19 pandemic and each employee participated and contributed in serving outside the walls of the credit union.” stated Minnco President/CEO Doug Hallstrom. “Expanding Minnco Moments into Holiday Moments to include non-profit community organizations made sense in light of the pandemic we faced. These activities also brought increased attention to these organizations through Minnco’s membership base and social media connections,” Hallstrom added.
Minnco Credit Union’s winning entry will advance to the national competition, where it will compete with submissions from credit unions throughout the United States.
The award is named in honor of Dora Maxwell, an early credit union pioneer. One of the original signers of CUNA’s constitution at Estes Park, Colorado, Maxwell worked as an organizer for the movement’s trade association (then called the Credit Union National Extension Bureau) and held numerous volunteer positions at the local and national level. In addition to organizing hundreds of credit unions, she developed volunteer organizer clubs and worked with organizations on behalf of the poor.
Since 1935, Minnco Credit Union has been meeting the financial needs of residents in east central Minnesota with affordable financial products and services. Minnco has over $500 million in assets and seven full-service offices (Andover, Big Lake, Cambridge, Isanti, Minnco Center, North Branch and Princeton) serving over 31,000 members. www.minnco.com
Becky Kastenbauer
bkastenbauer@minnco.com
763-552-6108
