Nonprofits, libraries get surprise cash gifts from STCU

STCU gave nonprofit organizations across the region a Christmas gift in the form of $157,000 in donations, ranging from $25 to $20,000, during its annual Season of Giving event in the month of December.

The gifts are made at the recommendation of a donations committee that researches the organizations and their needs, said community relations officer Kristen Piscopo.

“Those were given throughout our service area,” Piscopo said. “Each year looks a little bit different. It really depends on where the needs are.”

Piscopo said community giving is not unusual for credit unions like STCU.

“A big foundation of the credit union movement is people helping people,” she said. “I don’t think we’re alone in doing what we’re doing. We’re trying to help our community and our members.”

Two gifts of $20,000 were given. The first went to the Basic Food Employment Training Program run by Goodwill Industries of the Inland Northwest. The program helps people obtain the skills needed for a living-wage career. The second $20,000 gift went to Columbia Industries, a Tri-Cities organization that provides vocational and life skills training for people with disabilities.

The Boys and Girls Club of Spokane County and the Boys and Girls Club of Kootenai County each received $15,000. The donation to the Spokane County group was earmarked for renovation of the former Keystone Elementary School in Spokane Valley into a new Boys and Girls Club facility.

Two organizations that provide support for the blind each received $10,000: Lighthouse for the Blind in Spokane and the Edith Bishel Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Kennewick. Piscopo said a group from STCU was able to tour Lighthouse for the Blind.

“They are doing incredible work,” she said. “Both of those organizations are providing critical training and job skills.”

The Feeding Kids First Campaign run by Second Harvest received $10,000 to help fund a warehouse and volunteer space dedicated to child-focused programs, including the Bite2Go program that sends weekend meals and snacks home with students in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

Panhandle Special Needs Inc., which helps disabled residents in Bonner and Boundary counties in North Idaho, also received $10,000.

Animal welfare organizations also benefitted from the Season of Giving. Giving Tuesday was Dec. 3, and on that day STCU gave $1,000 checks to the Benton/Franklin Humane Society in Kennewick, the Kootenai Humane Society and SpokAnimal in Spokane.

Giving Tuesday was also beneficial for local libraries. Piscopo said STCU often holds financial workshops at library branches and also supports their mission to serve their communities. “The library gifts were a fun surprise,” she said. “The libraries are just a critical asset for our community.”

STCU presented $1,000 checks to 19 libraries in the Spokane Public Library system, the Community Library Network in North Idaho, the Liberty Lake Library, the Coeur d’Alene Library, Mid-Columbia libraries in the Tri-Cities and the Richland Public Library system.

All STCU employees are given 16 hours of paid time off each year so they can volunteer with community organizations. As part of the Season of Giving, STCU set aside $25,000 to be gifted to organizations where employees volunteered in 2019. There were 154 groups that received funding in amounts ranging from $25 to $1,000.

“These funds go to nonprofits and schools where our employees volunteer,” Piscopo said. “The amount is based on how much they volunteered.”

One of those groups was Murci’s Mission, a pet rescue in Mead, where STCU Hutton Branch Manager Lindsay Funderburke volunteered.

“I started small with helping screen potential adopters, and my passion grew from there,” she said.

Funderburke said she volunteers at an animal rescue in honor of her late father.

“He and I shared a love for animals, so this was the clear choice for me,” she said.

Piscopo said quite a few Season of Giving recipients responded to the gifts with tears of joy.

“They are all surprise gifts,” she said. “They don’t know that we’re coming.”