Maine Credit Unions Raise $674K in Campaign to End Hunger
February 9, 2017
Photo from left, Jim Lemieux, Chair of Maine CU League's Social Responsibility Committee, and John Murphy, President of the League, are joined by keynote speaker, Jessica Buchanan, in unveiling the check bearing the record-setting amount raised by Maine's credit unions for ending hunger in 2016.
FREEPORT, Maine–The Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger announced it set another fundraising record during 2016, raising $674,193.48.
The funds will help to purchase more than $2.7 million meals for hungry Mariners, according to the Maine league.
“The generosity of the more than 680,000 credit union members in Maine is extraordinary,” said John Murphy, president/CEO of the Maine Credit Union League, during a luncheon event announcing the total funds raised. “Hunger affects communities in many ways, however, credit unions use it as a chance to change lives and put forth the credit union philosophy of ‘people helping people.’ As we celebrate the close of another successful year of the campaign, we are humbled by the remarkable efforts each credit union has made to make their communities a better place.”
The luncheon event featured an address by Jessica Buchanan, author of the New York Times best-selling book, Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six. In October 2011, while on a routine, humanitarian mission to help children in Somalia, Buchanan was abducted at gunpoint and held for ransom by a group of Somali land pirates for 93 days. Jessica was imprisoned outdoors in deplorable conditions, starved, and terrorized by more than two-dozen gangsters, the league noted. In January 2012, the Navy’s elite SEAL Team Six heroically parachuted into the desert and successfully rescued her, along with her colleague. Her kidnapping and dramatic rescue are being made into a feature film by Clint Eastwood. Buchanan shared her harrowing experience and her belief in helping others, despite her experience with attendees. Buchanan called being part of the announcement "truly inspirational. I applaud the efforts of you stepping up to help those in need."
Since 1990, the Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger has raised $7.2 million.