ST. CLOUD, Minn.– St. Cloud Federal Credit Union was honored at the Minnesota Credit Union Network’s Annual Conference for its continued work to provide financial education and micro - lending opportunities worldwide. Together with Sartell High School, the credit union received The Simon Hellermann Philanthropy Award, which recognizes demonstrated excellence in credit union philanthropy and contributions to the credit union movement in Minnesota. The award was established in 1999 as a tribute to Minnesota credit union philanthropist Simon Hellermann, recognizing an outstanding contribution to a humanitarian cause and promoting credit union philanthropy, service and loyalty.
St. Cloud FCU and Sartell High School partnered with the Kiva Program, a worldwide organization that provides loans to people in poverty. The program offers financial education curriculum to all ninth grade history students at Sartell High School. The high school students th en research and recommend lending through KIVA , presenting their findings along with a potential loan recipient to a panel from the credit union. T he panel then determines which recipient and project they will fund. In turn, the students partner directly with KIVA to fund these projects in order to better lives and communities around the world, the credit union said.
St. Cloud FCU said it has been able to fund more than 80 loans in 30 different developing countries. Dave Driste and Roy Snyder, educators at Sartell High School, have been vital in helping this program succeed. Mr. Driste and Mr. Snyder work with the students to grow their financial education knowledge, helping the students gather research and present findings, empowering the students to build connections worldwide, according to SCFCU.
“We could not be more proud to accept this award, it has been inspiring to watch the Sartell High School students present their projects with such pass ion and awareness to issues going on worldwide,” said President and CEO Jed A. Meyer. “We hope to encourage other organizations to participate in this program.”