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Cooperation, Community, Education, and Sharing are core values of Kingston Community Credit Union. We strongly believe in building cooperative relationships with our members and our community. For over 65 years Kingston Community Credit Union has made a positive impact in our local community with charitable giving, volunteerism, and financial education. We have a proud tradition of cooperative business ethics and a commitment to continually demonstrate our Mission, Vision, and Values.
As part of the credit union philosophy of People Helping People, KCCU is committed to building, strengthening, and enhancing the lives of those in our community.
We recognize the continued need for support within our community. Many local organizations and agencies have found it difficult over the past few years with an increased demand for their services and difficulty to fundraise due to Covid-19 restrictions and decreased disposable income for many contributors. Times are tough and we know it! In 2022 KCCU supported many local organizations, through fundraising, corporate donations, and grants. We also went beyond our borders, raising $4440 in member donations in branch and adding an additional $1,300 donation from KCCU which was provided to the Canadian Ukraine Foundation in support of the people of Ukraine.
KCCU remains an active participant in the KFL&A United Way Workplace Employee Campaign with employee contributions and corporate matching, bringing our donation to over $12,700 in 2022! We have also been recognized by KFL&A United Way for our continued Platinum status with 43 consecutive years of achieving 100% staff participation! Way to go team KCCU!
In 2020 we began a partnership with the City of Kingston to introduce and support the Kingston Community Climate Action Fund. In the three years that the fund has benefited local projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gases and working towards Kingston’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2040, KCCU has actively promoted the projects, the fund, assisted in fundraising, and donated $15,000 to the fund and its projects. Refer to our website for details on the projects and how you can contribute.
Cooperation, Community, Education, and Sharing are core values of Kingston Community Credit Union. We strongly believe in building cooperative relationships with our members and our community. For over 65 years Kingston Community Credit Union has made a positive impact in our local community with charitable giving, volunteerism, and financial education. We have a proud tradition of cooperative business ethics and a commitment to continually demonstrate our Mission, Vision, and Values.
As part of the credit union philosophy of People Helping People, KCCU is committed to building, strengthening, and enhancing the lives of those in our community.
As covid restrictions were lifted in 2022, we were excited to return to some in-person events. With the help of our dedicated staff, we were able to hold and participate in several fundraising events with the proceeds going directly to support local community organizations. BBQ’s, book sale, coffee break, calendar sales, and staff casual days raised funds for Kingston 4Paws, St. Vincent de Paul Kingston, The Food Sharing Project, Kingston Humane Society, Alzheimer Society of KFL&A, as well to purchase supplies for Dawn House, Integrated Care Hub, Forgotten Ferals, and Luke’s Place.
We also dusted off our tent and participated in Kingston Community Health Centre’s Community BBQ, Memorial Centre Farmers’ Market Zucchini 500, Almost Home Family Fund Day, Loving Spoonful’s Night Market, Big Brothers’ and Big Sisters’ Teddy Bear Picnic, and offered our account services and branches as donation drop off locations for Corus Clothes for Kids, the Kingston Community Climate Action Fund, and the Mayor’s Fund for Students from Ukraine.
We proudly celebrated 65 years in business on October 28, 2022, with branch festivities.
Over the past two years, Loving Spoonful has partnered with the urban Indigenous community in the Kingston area, including the Kingston Indigenous Language Nest (KILN) and the Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle Eastern Region (IDHC) to support the creation of the two-acre Indigenous Food Sovereignty (IFS) Garden. KCCU was most pleased to present $12,000 in support of this project. $10,000 was awarded to KCCU for the project from our co-operative partner, Wyth Financial through their Empowering Your Community program plus an additional $2,000 from KCCU directly. The funding was used to offer honorariums to Indigenous youth for the management of the vegetable gardens and food forest at the IFS Garden. The youth provided crucial support for the maintenance of the Garden throughout the growing season, supported the implementation of land-based language learning programs offered by KILN at the IFS Garden, and managed the distribution of garden produce to food insecure members of the Indigenous community. The IFS Garden programming and donated produce benefited over 100 community members.
The second component of this project was the creation and distribution of Home Garden Kits for members of the Indigenous community who are unable to participate in the IFS Garden due to accessibility challenges. Kits included everything households needed to produce food and traditional medicines at home including a planter, soil, vegetable seedlings and seedlings for traditional medicine plants. 100 kits were funded and distributed by IDHC and KCCU to Indigenous households throughout eastern Ontario.
Our 2022 year ended with us helping 7 member families (24 people, 10 children) by providing groceries and gifts through our Christmas Caring Program. In addition, we assembled numerous KCCU Care Kits which were distributed through the Integrated Care Hub to those in need. KCCU also presented corporate donations of over $8,000 to several local community partners in December.
Kingston Community Credit Union takes pride in setting a caring example in our community and appreciates the generosity and commitment of our members, board, management, and staff in supporting these initiatives.
We are committed to educating our members and our community. We regularly share our experience and knowledge with local schools, groups, and organizations by providing financial literacy sessions on topics such as budgeting, saving, credit, and investing. We moved our session to an online format the last few years due to covid and are now offering both online and in-person sessions. Our website hosts a full library of fun financial learning videos – just click on the “Learn” icon on our home page to check them out. A new Junior Series was introduced in 2021 to support financial learning for our little ones. All videos are a fun and light way to learn about financial products and provide answers to your financial life questions. We also provide information and resources on our social media channels so please connect with us there.
Our staff are paramount to our engagement with, and support of, our community. Our employee run Social and Fundraising Committee is instrumental in planning and executing many of our initiatives. The Committee is also responsible for our Christmas Caring and Community Sharing programs along with creating spirit and fun within our branches. Special thanks to all the members of the Social and Fundraising Committee for all you do!
KCCU continued to actively promote the Ontario Credit Union Foundation CU Succeed Youth Bursary. The CU Succeed Youth Bursary program is open to resident Ontario post-secondary students in need of financial assistance for academic, technological, or vocational training. The CU Succeed Youth Bursary was established in 2016 by the OCUF and, over the past six years has awarded Over the past seven years, they have awarded $536,000 to 407 students. Applications for 2023 will open on April 30.
Being part of a credit union means doing more with your money. It’s making the choice to keep your dollars local, and putting your own health, the health of your community, and your local economy ahead of someone else’s bottom line. Its about putting your interests first, aligning your money with your values, putting people above profit, and choosing co-operation over competition.
A third party is an individual or entity, other than the account holder or those authorized to give instructions about the account, who directs what happens with the account. For example, if an account were opened in one individual’s name for deposits that are directed by someone else, the other person or entity would be a third party.
