Virginia Credit Union Recognized by United Way for Partnership with Charlottesville Elementary School

Virginia Credit Union was recently honored with the inaugural Day of Caring Community Champion Award by United Way of Greater Charlottesville. The award recognizes VACU's ongoing partnership with Charlottesville’s Agnor Elementary School, which began in September 2024 with the United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring and has since grown into a comprehensive financial education initiative serving students and their families.

"This recognition is a testament to what is possible when community partners come together with a shared vision for creating meaningful impact through service and engagement,” said Cherry Dale, VACU’s Senior Vice President of Financial Education. “We're grateful to the Agnor Elementary family for welcoming us into their community and to United Way for creating the opportunities that made our connection possible. We are proud of a partnership that's helping students and families build financial confidence through money management skills and personal finance resources."

Thirty VACU employees volunteered at Agnor Elementary as part of Day of Caring. VACU staff worked on various projects, including creating take-home and school-use literacy kits for students and maintaining the school's garden beds and nature trail. VACU also provided $5,000 in financial support for the Day of Caring event.

Following the September 2024 volunteer day, VACU worked with Agnor Elementary School staff and the PTO to develop an ongoing financial education program. The credit union distributed more than 700 books on personal finance to students and hosted in-person financial education programs that taught students about credit unions, the importance of saving, and how to manage their spending.

"The inaugural Day of Caring Community Champion Award recognizes a partnership between Virginia Credit Union and Agnor Elementary School that began at the 2024 Day of Caring and has blossomed into so much more," said Ravi Cooper, President & CEO of United Way of Greater Charlottesville. "We are grateful to Virginia Credit Union volunteers and leadership and the Agnor Elementary School staff and PTO, who built a relationship to help students and their parents build financial skills, knowledge, and confidence through a number of high-impact programs."

The Agnor Elementary partnership is one of many VACU has with local schools and colleges throughout its service footprint. The credit union’s programs include financial education initiatives, school supply drives, career exploration opportunities, and college scholarships. Last year, VACU's nationally recognized financial education programs reached more than 105,000 students and adults with personal finance lessons. The credit union also offers online financial education resources tailored to young people at vacu.org/learn/collections/financial-success-for-kids

VACU earned several awards recently for its community engagement and financial education initiatives, including the Henrico County Department of Outreach & Engagement’s Heart of Service Award, Chesterfield County Public Schools’ Going the Extra Mile Award, and the credit union industry’s Diamond Award. Mastercard®, the payments and technology giant, also recognized VACU with its Doing Well By Doing Good Award.

Learn more about United Way of Greater Charlottesville at unitedwaycville.org

About Virginia Credit Union

A financial cooperative serving almost 500,000 members, Virginia Credit Union and its Member One division offer a variety of affordable banking services, loans, mortgages, and free financial education resources with a focus on helping people be more confident with their finances. Virginia Credit Union and its Member One division are equal housing opportunity lenders and are federally insured by the NCUA.