- America First Credit Union collaborates with local agencies to address community needs.
- Their efforts include food packets for students and shoe donations with Real Salt Lake.
- Similar partnerships educate employees on social issues, aiming to create community allies for those in need.
OGDEN — Employees at America First Credit Union know that to serve your community best does not mean you need to work alone.
People in need receive more help through partnerships with local agencies and businesses, but the partners also learn about the complexities of the needs in their communities, creating more allies for people living on the margins.
"We want to serve those who need to be served," said America First Credit Union director of public relations Dave Nellis. "And it shows employees what they're doing is meaningful and impactful."
Take, for example, the credit union's packaging of pantry packets. In recent years, employees not only from the credit union's charitable arm, but also those from the Young Automotive Group's foundation, "Young Caring for Our Young," have put together bags of food for students in need. This year, their goal is to produce 15,000 packets.
Employees not only give their time to fill the bags, but they also see and learn about the level of food insecurity in their community. The Bountiful Food Pantry then distributes the bags to students who often only eat their meals in their schools' cafeterias, providing them with meals for nonschool hours.
The Partnership Initiative is an international organization that encourages businesses, agencies, nonprofits and academic institutions to create change not only by donating funds to end-of-the-year campaigns but also by educating everyone in the partnership on social issues in their communities.
"Many foundations are already using, or desire to use, partnering to maximize their impact. Many are moving beyond pure financing, and are exploring the internal capacities required to do that effectively," the initiative states in their most recent report on partnerships and philanthropy.
Whether these philanthropic partnerships have increased over time is unclear. As staff at some area nonprofits shared, some collaborations are not interested in making their collaborations public for various social and political reasons.
Along the Wasatch Front, some nonprofit leaders said they are seeing more and more educational efforts among some local organizations and businesses.
Real Salt Lake, for example, assists America First Credit Union with the "Warm the Soles" program, which provides a new pair of shoes to children who need them. The giveaway is typically during the holiday season, but its impact is felt well past the Christmas season.
Children receive shoes and players and employees become aware that there are children who have never worn a solid pair of shoes that fit.
Employees at the University of Utah, various business partnerships with the United Way of Northern Utah, and collaborative efforts with religious institutions can benefit the community in many ways. Most importantly, it increases awareness of the need.
Financial donations also continue to be important for nonprofits, especially as demand for charitable services increases, the initiative has found.
The hope is that by spreading awareness, further discussions will lead to solutions, ensuring that children have shoes that fit, enough food to eat each weekend and necessary school supplies their families could not afford.
"These projects help a lot, but the need is great," Nellis said. "We are all a couple of missed paychecks away from a disaster, so we want to help ... we want to ask, 'what can we do?'"
