LOCAL

Topeka Credit Union Foundation awards $31K in grants

The Capital-Journal

Topeka Credit Union Foundation representatives from Envista Credit Union, Azura Credit Union, Kansas Blue Cross Blue Shield Credit Union and Mid American Credit Union awarded grants totaling $31,460 to 10 local organizations on Thursday.

“The foundation is proud to support multiple local organizations each year,” said Tara Dimick, senior vice president of business development for Envista and vice president of the Topeka Credit Union Foundation. “This year we were able to provide gifts to support everything from financial literacy to theatre to health and wellness.”

Organizations receiving grant funding from the Topeka Credit Union Foundation are:

• Family Service & Guidance Center — To underwrite the printing cost of 7,500 Happy Bear Activity Books that are a part of the Happy Bear Abuse Prevention Program.

• GraceMed Health Clinic, Inc. — To provide dental cleanings and fluoride treatments for uninsured, financially needy children and teens during their school-based clinic visit.

• Housing & Credit Counseling, Inc. — To support their part in the city’s “Impact Avenue” program, where HCCI will be providing a series of 16 classes for the city’s program to benefit parents of children from birth to age 18 who are homeless.

• Jr. Achievement of Kansas — To support education on financial literacy, entrepreneurship and workforce readiness in kindergarten through 12th grade.

• Mirror, Inc. — To support the “Developing Dads… Building Relationships Work for Success” program that provides a comprehensive network of community partners’ services and support to help people living in poverty become economically self-sufficient by providing services to low-income fathers.

• Shawnee Regional Prevention & Recovery Services, Inc. — To support the National Night Out annual event that gives neighbors the opportunity to get to know each other, meet local law enforcement and officials and begin dialogues on what everyone can do to make our community safer.

• TARC, Inc. — To fund the purchase of a 3-D printer to enable staff to produce individual key guards for iPads to aid communication support, produce parts for adaptive equipment, produce parts for adaptive seating and many other projects.

• Topeka Civic Theatre & Academy — To support youth programming at the theater.

• Topeka Habitat for Humanity, Inc. — To support the “Aging in Place” holistic home repair program that engages multiple community partners and provides products and services that foster the health and well-being of our aging population.

• Valeo Behavioral Health Care, Inc. — To support their Homeless Outreach Program to provide critical support for homeless individuals during the winter months.

According to a news release, the Topeka Credit Union Foundation now has contributed more than $277,784 to numerous organizations primarily in the Topeka community since it was formed in 2004.