CU Forward Day 2021 Brings Together 64 CUs and Organizations to Give Back Statewide

Now in its 5th year, CU Forward Day had a record number of participation with 64 credit unions and partnering organizations with over 2,300 employees volunteering 10,000+ hours impacting more than 540,000 people all over the state.
 
CU Forward Day – held annually on the second Monday in October, is a Minnesota state-wide initiative of credit unions employees, members and partners coming together to do one simple thing –  spread kindness. 

​Navigating the ongoing pandemic, many credit unions opted to participate with smaller group sizes and outdoor activities, however, the goal of coming together as an industry to give back throughout Minnesota remained consistent. 

Examples of service projects for the day included:

• Volunteering and fundraising for local nonprofits like Second Harvest, Feed my Starving Children, United Way, Adopt a Hiway, Human Society, and many more.
• Packing meals and food drives to address hunger in locations across Minnesota
• Park and yard cleanup projects
• Document shred days and flu shot clinics
• Virtual examples include employees making tie blankets at home or purchasing items from a non-profit’s Amazon Wish List.
• Many simply performing random acts of kindness in their communities like buying coffee for strangers, grocery shopping or handing out gas cards.

In 2013, Saint Paul-based credit union, Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union, hosted their first organization-wide Plus It Forward Day. A play on “pay it forward”, the Plus It Forward concept grew out of an employee-driven idea of what it meant to be a part of the community, to giveback and how credit unions could randomly spread kindness.

In a response to the growing cooperative nature of the event, the Minnesota Credit Union Network assumed the coordination of credit union participation, tracking and media efforts going forward under the umbrella name CU Forward Day starting in 2017.