Hiway Wins State Award for Community Involvement
(St. Paul, MN) September 6, 2006 – Hiway Federal Credit Union (Hiway) of St. Paul was awarded first place honors in the statewide Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Award program for credit unions. This social responsibility recognition awards program, sponsored by the Minnesota Credit Union Network and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), honors credit unions for their involvement in community projects and activities.
Hiway was honored for its work with the Mt. Airy Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (V.I.T.A.) program. V.I.T.A. is a national program run by the Internal Revenue Service to help low-income and disadvantaged families prepare and file their income taxes free of charge. In Minnesota , the Minnesota Department of Revenue operates V.I.T.A by training volunteers to prepare taxes, and opens several tax clinics throughout the state during the filing season with the help of sponsors like Hiway.
The Mt. Airy Community Center is the largest and most successful V.I.T.A. site. It has provided free tax preparation for over 1,500 low-income, disabled, English and non-English speaking and elderly families. Hiway Federal Credit Union (Hiway) is proud to have contributed to this success by being the sole fiscal sponsor of Mt. Airy ’s V.I.T.A site for three years. Hiway provides resources including computers and bilingual staff who are onsite throughout the program to translate and coordinate documents.
The awards program is named after Dora Maxwell, a credit union pioneer, who worked with several organizations to improve the living standards of the poor and needy. It was created in 1987 to promote social responsibility among credit unions by formally recognizing their social achievements within the community.
Hiway’s entry placed first on the state level in August and will be forwarded to the national competition in October where it will compete with other credit unions from across the country.
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Hiway Federal Credit Union was founded in 1931 to serve the employees of the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT). Today, Hiway serves over 50,000 members and welcomes new membership to individuals and businesses within the Metro Community Area. Nationally ranked among the best in the financial services industry, Hiway members receive lower loan rates, higher savings rates and fewer and lower fees.
