Peach State FCU C.A.R.E.S. Foundation pledges $60,000 to the Gwinnett County Public Schools Foundation and a new scholarship honoring Celeste Wilbanks
SUWANEE, GA (July 21, 2021) — The Peach State FCU C.A.R.E.S. Foundation announced a $60,000 pledge to the Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) Foundation and a new scholarship honoring former GCPS Superintendent, J. Alvin Wilbanks’ late wife, Celeste Wilbanks.
The credit union founded by Gwinnett County educators 60 years ago has pledged $60,000 over the next 5 years to the GCPS Foundation. The pledge was made in honor of Peach State’s foundation in education and aligns with the credit union’s decades of support for teachers and students. The pledge will support academic initiatives that benefit students in need in addition to supporting the GCPS Foundation’s college scholarship fund.
Also announced during the June 17th GCPS Board of Education meeting was a $5,000 scholarship from the credit union to honor former Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks’ late wife, Celeste Wilbanks. The scholarship will be funded by Peach State and awarded by the GCPS Foundation each the spring. An application for the Celeste Norton Wilbanks Scholarship will be available on the Foundation website once criteria has been determined.
“At our core, we are an education-based credit union,” Peach State’s President/CEO, Marshall Boutwell, remarked at the meeting. “We were formed in October 1961 by Gwinnett educators and this pledge is just one way we show our commitment to education and educators within our communities.”
The pledge is just one part of the organization’s celebration of their 60th anniversary, with $60,000 pledges going to educational, charitable, and artistic initiatives throughout their service area, which covers northwest Georgia to southwestern South Carolina. The credit union launched the Peach State FCU C.A.R.E.S. Foundation earlier this year, putting the credit union’s longstanding history of giving on a sustainable path for the future.
Pictured (left to right): David Welden, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Peach State FCU; Marshall Boutwell, President/CEO for Peach State Federal Credit Union; and Walt Martin, Chief Operating Officer for Gwinnett County Public Schools.
About Peach State FCU C.A.R.E.S. Foundation
Peach State Federal Credit Union’s passion for helping their members and community guided them to create the Peach State FCU C.A.R.E.S. Foundation. The Foundation is funded by the credit union’s Visa Debit Card program and private donors. Since the inception of the Peach State C.A.R.E.S. Visa Debit Card program in July 2019, more than $2+ million has been donated to charitable organizations, school systems and the arts in the communities that Peach State serves. The C.A.R.E.S. program was created to put these contributions on a sustainable path for the future. To learn more about how Peach State cares, visit peachstatefcu.org/CARES. Peach State is a $953 million not-for-profit financial cooperative that serves more than 85,000 members in Georgia and South Carolina with a mission to provide quality financial services that meet the needs and exceed the expectations of its member-owners. For more information about their products and services, visit peachstatefcu.org.
