FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich.—Community Choice CU has narrowed down the suspects, or at least the motive, when it comes to the mysterious envelope it received stuffed with $1,000 in cash.
Earlier this year it ran a “Pay it Forward” campaign, and it now believes whoever sent the money is attempting to pay it forward with the credit union itself. But plenty of mystery remains.
Community Choice’s Redford, Mich., branch received the envelope, addressed to a branch manager, filled with 10 $100 bills and a cryptic message: “Know the clue. Know the who. Anonymous 1679.” And this advice for how to use the money: “fix the sign or the charity of your choice.” Tim Young, the assistant branch manager was the first to open the letter.
“We were so surprised,” said Abbey Bierlein, coordinator for the Community Choice Credit Union Foundation, the CU’s charitable arm. “The credit union is well known for giving back to the community—and now someone has given back to the credit union.”
Bierlein told CUToday.info that the CU’s Redford office sign needs repairing, and that the improvement would be completed during an upcoming branch remodel. As a result, the money has been given to the credit union’s scholarship fund.
Meanwhile, Bierlein and staff are trying to solve the mystery that more than one staffer thinks may have been prompted by its Pay It Forward promotion. The $526-million credit union this summer gave employees up to $200 to perform random acts of kindness and then leave a small card that said, "Community Choice Paying it Forward.”
Some employees used the money to put coins in expired parking meters, pick up meal tabs at restaurants, and buy doughnuts for the I-96 construction workers.
Meanwhile staff across all branches are trying to piece together clues, said Bierlein, who thinks the CU may be closing in on the person who made the generous donation. “All the local media attention on this story is getting members calling in and stopping by with ideas about who the benefactor may be, said Bierlein.
Looking back, Bierlein said the CU should not have been completely surprised that it received the gift. "At Community Choice we give big all year round. The credit union often gets donations for its scholarship fund but we’ve never gotten a donation this large anonymously.”
The CU’s Community Choice Credit Union Foundation hands out up to $100,000 in college scholarships each year to students who pledge to stay in Michigan after graduation, awarding more than $600,000 to students in southeast Michigan since 2009.
Bierlein pointed out how members recognize the credit union for its generosity, including one father of a teenager who received scholarship money from the foundation.
“Every time he comes into the credit union he leaves a dollar for the scholarship fund,” said Bierlein. “Things like that, and the anonymous donation, you never see happen at a bank.”