MidSouth Federal Credit Union

Meriwest Credit Union, San Jose, Calif.,awarded $4,000 to schools participating in the KFOX school of rockcontest. The annual contest has middle and high school bands andchoirs compete against each other performing classic rock songs.KFOX listeners voted online for the group that they prefer. Thecontest draws attention to the need for funding middle and highschool arts programs. The winner bands and choirs performed live onKFOX's morning show with Greg Kihn and were given a gold record andcash award for their efforts. Meriwest Credit Union served as theprime sponsor of the school of rock. Castillero Middle School werethe winners at the middle school lever and Pioneer High School'sjazz band was the high school winner along with the Gunn Highschool choir. Each band and choir was awarded $5,000 each, $1,000came from Meriwest and $4,000 came from an anonymous donor. Thefunds are given to each school's music booster clubs to support thearts programs.

Pacific Service Credit Union, Walnut Creek,Calif., donated $5,000 to the San Jose Repertory Theatre for theRed Ladder Theatre Co. Red Ladder is the social outreach branch ofthe San Jose Repertory and works with underserved and disadvantagedchildren to improve and enrich their lives through theater arts.Red Ladder Theater Co. was formed in 1992. Pacific Service hassupported the organization for the past four years.

United Educational Credit Union, Battle Creek,Mich., has named North Pennfield Elementary as a recipient of abright ideas partnership program grant for $1,400. KarolineKinnisten, a reading teacher at North Pennfield, applied for thegrant to help fund an expansion of the Six + 1 Traits Writing FocusLesson Library at the school. The school's goal is to improve theMEAP third grade language arts scores. The Focus Lesson Librarymatches children's books and teacher resource books with writingmini-lessons that focus on the six traits of good writing.

Fort Lee Federal Credit Union, Fort Lee, Va.,teamed up with the Armed Forces Financial Network to donate morethan $2,900 to Army Community Services. Army Community Serviceshelps soldiers and their families in times of need. Fort Lee FCUraised the money through a savings revolution they implementedduring military saves week.

Georgia Central Credit Union, Duluth, Ga.,participated in the 2008 Gwinnett County relay for life. Relay forlife teams spend the night camping out and participating inactivities until it is their turn to walk on the track. Teams walkthroughout the night and into the morning to symbolize that cancerdoes not sleep, therefore the community will not rest until thereis a cure. Eight Georgia Central employees participated on thecorporate's team. The team held several fundraising events to raiseover $1,000 for the vent.

Hopewell Federal Credit Union, Heath, Ohio,announced that they were recognized for their 2008 operation feedcampaign for the Licking County Food Pantry Network. Hopewellemployees sold shamrocks to raise funds for the campaign. They soldover 1,000 shamrocks for $1. In 2007, the Food Pantry served622,275 meals to more than 84,000 individuals and approximately 50%of those recipients were children and infants.

Corporate America Family Credit Union,Warrenville, Ill., teamed up with local business to help raise bikesafety awareness at the third annual Warrenville bike rodeo.Residents gathered in the Warrenville City Hall parking lot tolearn how to protect themselves and their children while ridingtheir bikes. Participants entered tow in one of 19 bicycles andwere able to donate their old bike to an organization that repairsthem for reuse.