In the first year of a program championed by the Maine league called Credit Unions Share for ME, credit unions contributed more than 15,000 volunteer hours (worth more than a quarter-million dollars) to communities in the state.
The one-year anniversary of the effort coincided with National Volunteer Appreciation Week. The league reported that the award- winning program, which has attracted national interest, was developed to recognize and track the thousands of hours that credit union staff and volunteers at Maine's credit unions contribute to their local communities during the year.
"This program recognizes the tremendous commitment that credit union personnel have to community-service," said league spokesperson Jon Paradise.
Paradise noted that until Credit Unions Share for ME, much of the volunteering that credit unions did was anecdotal and hard to quantify. Under the program, the league said that 1,499 credit union volunteers accounted for 15,343.25 in volunteer hours, an average of 1,278.60 volunteer hours a month. "According to the most recent statistics compiled by the Points Of Light Volunteer Foundation, each volunteer hour is worth $16.54 making the value of the hours volunteered by Maine's credit unions total $253,777.35," the league said.
For the year, York County FCU of Sanford volunteered the most hours, followed by Oxford FCU of Mexico, Saco Valley CU of Saco, Five County CU of Bath and Rainbow FCU of Lewiston.
