Crossroads Credit Union announced the recipients of more than $36,000 in funding from the Crossroads Investment Fund in Canora on October 17, International Credit Union Day, said Kristin Olson, marketing assistant.
“The day is recognized to reflect upon the credit union movement’s history, promote its achievements, recognize the hard work and share member experiences,” said Olson. “To highlight the Credit Union Difference, Crossroads once again decided that it was the perfect opportunity to announce the recipients of the Crossroads Community Investment Fund. We were so pleased with how well it went last year, we wanted to recreate the excitement again.”
The CIF committee selected three projects from the pool of applicants to receive funding for the cost of their project up to $15,000.
The Sturgis Curling Club received the major funding of $15,000 for upgrades to the Sturgis Curling Rink after attracting the most votes in voting open to Crossroads Credit Union members from September 30 to October 7.
“The entire community of Sturgis was completely engaged in the voting process,” reported Olson. “The level of excitement that the voting generated throughout all of our communities was exactly the outcome we were hoping for in increasing the excitement from last year!”
Canora Composite School received $5,000 for an alternative learning space to provide enhanced educational opportunities for its students, said Kelly Perepeluk-Nieckar, teacher.
“We hope to update our resources with state-of-the-art learning tools, and empower students and parents to be proud of their rural education while being reassured that they have enriched resources,” said Perepeluk-Nieckar.
The Wadena Elementary School playground project also received $5,000.
The CIF was originally established in 2009.
“We allocate funds each year to non-profit organizations that support community development,” said Johnson. “In the past 10 years we have donated over $370,000 to more than 115 community projects. We are proud of our co-operative roots and helping our communities will always be a priority, It’s about grassroots, hometowns, and co-operation.
“We identified that we have an opportunity to strengthen the impact we have on the communities we serve and also engage our members in the process. We decided that through the Community Investment Fund, we would support one major project or program as well as having funds to support projects/programs that apply for CIF and request funding on a smaller scale.”
In addition to the Sturgis, Canora and Wadena projects, numerous other non-profit organizations that support community development and initiatives received funding from the 2019 Crossroads Community Investment Fund.
