WICHITA, KA Meritrust members, employees and friends joined together Saturday, October 12 to assemble 20,000 meals for international hunger relief organization Numana. The meals will now be shipped to an orphanage in northern South Africa, the Tabitha Ministries.
The teams measured, weighed, sealed, boxed and prepared for shipment the meals for the orphanage. Meals assembled consisted of rice, soy protein, freeze-dried pinto beans and a blend of vitamins and minerals targeted to help the immune system of malnourished people. Hundreds of starving children at the orphanage will benefit from the meals, which took 90 minutes for the Meritrust volunteers to package.
Meritrusts food-packaging event was held as a part of International Credit Union Day today, October 17, the Credit Union National Associations celebration of credit unions and their ability to improve the communities in which they are located. This years theme Credit Unions Unite for Good helps leverage the credit union initiative of working together to better the lives of individuals, families, communities and countries around the world.
Meritrust Chairman of the Board Rick Dodds and wife as well as President and CEO James Nastars and family were part of the volunteer team at the food-packaging event. "This event was meaningful to the community focus of credit unions in two ways," says Nastars. "One, we joined with our coworkers and friends, coming together as a community to make a difference in the lives of those in need. Two, in our globally connected world, community encompasses groups and persons both near and far. Its the credit union way to reach out to those in need, wherever they might be." Numana has packaged more than 27 million meals from coast to coast with the help of more than 170,000 volunteers. This Kansas organization started in El Dorado, Kan., in 2008.
About Meritrust:� Meritrust Credit Union is the leading and largest Kansas-chartered community credit union with 77,500 members and $900 million in assets. Meritrust is open to the public with 14 branches in metro-Wichita, Junction City and Lawrence, Kansas. In 2012, Meritrust was ranked third in the nation in the Callahan & Associates Return of the Member Index and was recognized by SNL Financial as one of the top 20 best performing credit unions in the nation, among credit unions with total assets of more than $500 million. For more information, visit meritrustcu.org.
