SECU Surpasses its 2024 Goal to Spread 590,579 Acts of Kindness During Fifth Annual Campaign
SECU wrapped up its fifth annual Kindness Campaign earlier this month, officially logging over 590,000 acts of kindness performed in Maryland and beyond as of October 1, 2024. Building on the campaign’s successful legacy of inspiring good deeds, each fall SECU aims to fulfill the credit union ethos of ‘people helping people,’ spreading kindness and encouraging acts of service and compassion – no matter how small. This year, SECU surpassed its goal of 500,000 acts and for the second year in a row, Governor Wes Moore’s administration officially proclaimed October as Kindness Month in the state of Maryland!
“Our Kindness campaign has grown and evolved year after year, and to see our team, partners and members across the state embrace kindness is so incredibly inspirational,” said Bre Hill, Community Partnerships Manager at SECU. “Our goal is to show that all it takes is one small act of kindness to create that ripple effect and transform someone’s day. We hope the feeling of this campaign extends long past its end, and encourage everyone to make their communities a little kinder each and every day.”
Bringing Wellness to the Forefront
New for 2024, Kindness activities were intentionally programmed with education, including financial education and holistic wellness, at its core. The campaign kicked off with an Essentials Drive in September and a Grand Act of Kindness to benefit education institutions across the state: Frostburg State University, the Universities at Shady Grove, Towson University, Morgan State University, and the University of Maryland. A recent research study from Johns Hopkins and the Bloomberg School of Public Health sparked this wellness theme in this year’s campaign, which found students from food-insecure households were 43 percent less likely to graduate from college and 61 percent less likely to obtain a graduate or professional degree, compared to non-food-insecure students.
SECU collected essential items– nonperishable food items, snacks, health and hygiene items, and more– from donation bins stationed at the 25 financial centers across the state. Then, on October 14 as the annual Grand Act of Kindness, SECU staff and university volunteers distributed essential items and snack packs to each of the university’s campus pantries. Check out the team in action at Towson University, where WMAR joined as SECU’s team packed bags and surprised students on campus as they studied for midterm exams!
Kindness Recap by the Numbers
Here are some of the ways SECU and the SECU MD Foundation spread kindness throughout the campaign:
- Donated over 900,000 pounds of food to the Maryland Food Bank for their “Pantry On the Go” program.
- Awarded $50,000 in Kindness grants to our partners Special Olympics of Maryland and Kennedy Krieger Institute.
- Donated more than 1,200 pumpkins to Kennedy Krieger Institute to create a pumpkin patch on-site for patients undergoing treatment who are not able to attend fall festivities in their communities.
- “Sprinkled” kindness to members at 25 financial centers across the state, and treated patrons at local coffee or pastry shops and much more, totaling more than $2,400 in sprinkle donations.
- Raised $131,000 for the SECU MD Foundation through our golf classic to support scholarships for University System of Maryland students.
- Over 350 team members logged over 650 volunteer hours at 24 locations for over 30 activities on our Day of Kindness.
Kindness Campaign partners including the University System of Maryland, Kennedy Krieger Institute, the Office of the Comptroller of Maryland, WBAL TV, and the University of Maryland Athletics also helped spread kindness – and spread the word – to push SECU to exceed its kindness goal.
World Kindness Day
World Kindness Day is celebrated annually on November 13 as part of a global kindness movement – and presented the perfect opportunity to keep the Kindness Campaign’s goodwill and momentum from October going! Over the last few weeks, SECU’s teams headed back out into their communities to continue to sprinkle acts of kindness on World Kindness Day– and even inspire other organizations to host their own volunteer days.
SECU’s University Partnerships team surprised students at the University of Maryland College Park with free lunch by way of over $800 in gift cards, courtesy of Little Blue Menu.
Community partner Moveable Feast, a nonprofit organization in Baltimore, was inspired to host their own Kindness campaign to pay forward the generosity shown to them by partners like SECU. This year, SECU presented Moveable Feast with an in-kind donation of $1,000 worth of microwaves to support their cause of delivering medically tailored meals to Marylanders to provide nutrition education and support racial, social, and health equity. The organization currently has a waitlist of over 100 clients who are in need of microwaves in order to prepare the meals Moveable Feast provides and delivers right to their doors.
To close out the month, SECU joined Middletown High School for their Young Entrepreneurs’ career fair and “Shark Tank”-style pitch competition. A panel of judges, including SECU staff and leadership, listened in as more than 3 dozen young entrepreneurs with hopeful business concepts pitched ideas – everything from a marketing firm to a 3D printing service, to car detailing and even a henna tattoo artist. The team then surprised the top three winning teams and several runners-up with Visa gift cards and prizes to make their business dreams a reality!
Keeping Kindness Going
Next year will mark the sixth annual Kindness Campaign, and we look forward to continuing to amplify kindness throughout Maryland and beyond. To stay up to date with our community initiatives, follow SECU on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok. And make sure to spread kindness all year long in your community!
