Credit unions, as you many of you know, are set up differently from other financial institutions. As not-for-profit institutions, we are tasked by our charters to serve a certain segment of people – in the case of Montana Health, that group is those who work in healthcare in the state of Montana (hence the clever name!). Primarily, we engage in affordable financial services as a way to try and achieve this mission. But we also get the opportunity to do community outreach specifically targeted to our “field of membership”.

Much of what we contribute comes in the form of donations, primarily to the foundations run by the organizations that employ many of our members. We ask foundation personnel to periodically meet with our staff so we can understand where these funds are going and how they are being used. These sessions can involve a lot of tissues – our members out there are doing amazing work that truly changes lives.

But some of the most satisfying things we do involve “getting out there”. Over the years our sponsor organizations have given us the opportunity to volunteer many times. And well, frankly, to golf a bit.

So, as you can imagine, 2020 was hard on this front. Even though events were cancelled, and opportunities to get out there were few and far between, we still made our normal contributions – but there was something missing. We missed getting our hands dirty.

Fortunately, we were able to literally do just that recently. St. John’s United asked us to come help plant flowers and help maintain beds on their beautiful campus. Our staff was eager to get in the dirt and help out.

It’s a little thing, to be sure. But this spring, hopefully its more than just the flowers that will be blooming – but opportunities for our staff to get back to giving back to our incredible members as well. Working numbers is our job, but giving back is our passion. So, thank you, to all of the great organizations that we serve for giving us these opportunities.

And yes, you will probably see me on the golf course this summer.