ARKADELPHIA — Patterson Federal Credit Union has a long history in Clark County. The organization was chartered in 1957 to serve the employees of Reynolds Metal Co. who worked in Gum Springs. As times changed, the credit union moved from Gum Springs to Arkadelphia and now serves anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Clark County.
That service includes more than just offering financial services to its members. Patterson Federal Credit Union also sponsors a scholarship program for high school seniors and programs such as Project CARE to benefit children in the community.
For its involvement with this program, the credit union recently won the Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Award from the Credit Union National Association.
“The Dora Maxwell Award is given to a credit union for its social-responsibility projects,” said Nicole McGough, vice president of business development. “Patterson won for our work with the local backpack program that sends home food with children in need over weekends and holidays.
“We won first place for credit unions with under $50 million in assets nationwide,” she said. Both she and Shawn Cowart, CEO, accepted the award at CUNA’s 2018 Governmental Affairs Conference, Feb. 25 to March 1, in Washington, D.C.
“In Arkadelphia, 117 backpacks go home every weekend with kids who need food,” said McGough, who is a former teacher in the Arkadelphia School District.
“The teachers and principals in this area had been taking care of this need, but we got involved when Shawn asked us to start looking at philanthropies that we could work with. It was his idea,” she said.
“We reached out to school counselors in order to find out how we could help,” McGough said. “Patterson started working with Project CARE in the fall of 2016 by helping with food drives at the schools.
“We first planned a food drive with local businesses. Our goal was to have one food drive a month. We started in January 2017 with Alumacraft, and by the time the year ended, we had collected 10,131 items for the backpacks. We want to beat that this year.”
She said cash donations are also accepted for Project CARE.
“This year, we have also partnered with businesses to collect food,” she said. “We do accept food in our office
(124 W.P. Malone Drive), and each of the schools in the district will accept food at any time. Each of the five schools in the Arkadelphia School District also does at least one food drive a year for Project CARE, and we help out with that by providing a reward, like a pizza or ice-cream-sandwich party, to the grade or homeroom that brings in the most food.”
To date, Patterson Federal Credit Union has partnered with the Arkadelphia Public Schools, Alumacraft, Hitco,
Danfoss, Clark County employees, Arkadelphia city employees and the Henderson State University School of Business.
Cowart said he first learned about the need for the backpack program from members of his church.
“When we hired Nicole, I asked her to look into this situation. I had heard that up to 500 kids in Arkadelphia are underfed. I knew we had to do something to help solve this problem,” he said.
“Patterson Federal Credit Union has truly been a blessing to my school and my backpack kiddos,” said Paula Keeling, school counselor at Peake Elementary School.
“They have provided an avenue to keep our closets full of food and, in doing so, provided extra time for me to be working with our students instead of shopping to keep the backpack closet stocked,” Keeling said.
“They have brought an awareness to our program, and this has allowed even more people to become involved in our community. I cannot say ‘thank you’ enough,” she said.
“There is not a budget in our district that allows counselors to purchase food, shoes, clothing, school supplies, etc.,” said Charlotte Dewitt, counselor at Central Elementary School. “In the past, counselors spent a great deal of time securing resources to meet the needs of students. It is a huge relief to not stress over how to meet our students’ needs.”
For more information on Project CARE, call Patterson Federal Credit Union at (870) 246-8005.