Voyage Federal Credit Union Celebrates 12 Days of Christmas by Spreading Local Cheer

SIOUX FALLS, SD Starting on Monday the 8^th and running through the 23^rd Voyage Federal Credit Union did their own version of 12 days of Christmas. Peter, their business services officer joined to kick off the holiday cheer, as they went to the Sioux Falls School District to drop off hats and mittens that were collected last spring for their, "Have a Heart" campaign. Day twos donation was sleds to the McCrossan Boys Ranch for their, "Tree of Hope". On the third day of Christmas Voyage FCU delivered a check to the service dog organization, "BIG PAWS" and presented one of the main service dogs, "Artie" with the check. Darla Erb, CEO, visited the Center of Hope to make our donation to their "Mothers Baby Basket" program on Day 4. We surprised a local nursing home on day 5 with gift certificates for their onsite Beauty Shop! Sue, our call center representative joined in delivering the holiday cheer to the wonderful residents! On day 6, they waited for Lewis Drug customers to pay and then, "BOOM" we surprised them by paying for their transactions! Calisa, one of the member service representatives on our 7^th day of Christmas rode along in the sleigh to pay off some layaway presents at Kmart and although it is unknown who got the gifts, we do know that the funds went to TOYS! Alice and Darla visited the Childrens Inn with a donation of paper goods, cereal, can goods, dish soap, bed pillows and more on our 8th day of Giving. The largest day of giving was the 9^th day as 2 weeks were spent taking turns shopping, searching and buying for the wishes of children listed on 30 tags selected off of the Volunteers of America Spirit Tree. Finally, all the gifts were purchased and Jourdyn and James picked them up for the VOA! Day 10 brought hungry bellies as we decided to spread some cheer by paying for the lunches of workers and visitors alike at Avera Hospitals cafeteria! Carri, the local loan specialist from Voyages Avera Branch helped hand out envelopes to the lucky lunchtime recipients! The following day Voyage FCU went back to Avera but this time to the Prairie Center to give out flower arrangements to individuals getting chemo. We had employees donate and spray paint over 40 vases! For the final day of Christmas giving, the loan supervisor, Mindy brought lunch to the fine workers at the county jail to thank them for all the great service that they do for our community! We would like to thank our members because the funds for our community involvement come from our annual promotion Skip-a-Pay. Half of the money from the fee for this promotion goes into our community involvement, which is made up of a volunteer committee of Voyage employees. If you are not familiar with the promotion, for a $20 fee we allow our members to skip a loan payment during the months of November, December and January to allow some more financial breathing room during this hectic time of year. Due to its huge success this last year, we decided to end 2014 with our own version of 12 Days of Christmas and donated over $1200.00 back into the Sioux Empire! We are so grateful to be a part of this wonderful community! From everyone at Voyage FCU, please have a safe and happy holiday season!