Each year, Lake Trust team members dedicate the second Monday of October to volunteering in service to our communities. Over the years, we have spread out into groups across Michigan to serve at food banks, community gardens, distributing coats to children, assisting at shelters, and more. Powered by Good Day 2022 was a little different. The Lake Trust team combined our efforts to make an impact in one location to assemble essential kits for those experiencing homelessness in Michigan.
The essential kits contained items most needed and most requested by local shelters such as socks, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and other personal hygiene items. Together, the Lake Trust team completed 15,000 kits that day. Over the next few weeks, team members volunteered additional time until 20,000 essential kits were made.
The 20,000 essential kits were distributed by team members to local nonprofits that support those experiencing homelessness. These include places like Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, Loves and Fishes Ministries in Lansing, Bountiful Harvest in Brighton and many more.
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Michigan.gov4
The Governor’s Service Awards have been presented since 1994 to recognize those who go above and beyond. The Michigan Community Service Commission hosted the awards to support Michigan volunteers, organizations and businesses that are committed to service and play a critical role in improving the lives of our people and communities.
Lake Trust Credit Union and the Lake Trust Foundation were honored as a recipient of the 2022 Governor’s Service Award for Corporate Social Impact. This award was a recognition of the work of Lake Trust, its team members, and the Lake Trust Foundation.
“Michigan succeeds because of Michiganders who go above and beyond to serve their communities and lift up others,” said Governor Whitmer. “This year’s winners get things done even when nobody's looking because they know that every contribution makes a huge impact.”
Lake Trust was recognized for launching initiatives to fill unmet needs in Michigan, for our work supporting small businesses, for the volunteer work of the Lake Trust team, and the grants, awards, and scholarships given by the Lake Trust Foundation.
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Michigan.gov4
In 2022, economic inflation in essential areas, like food, shelter, utilities, and transportation made it difficult for many families to afford basic necessities. By the middle of year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) had increased 9.1 percent over the 12-month period that ended in June 2022, making this the largest CPI increase in forty years.2
These increasing costs have not only tightened household budgets, but these costs have also proved to be a challenge for local nonprofits that provide services, food, clothing, and educational opportunities to support families in need. By volunteering at these essential organizations, we can help them save on labor costs, raise awareness, and strengthen our community relationships.
Hover over each area to learn more about how our team made an impact in specific areas of focus.
44.75 Hours
The LACASA Collection store in Howell benefits the nonprofit through the sale of clothing, handbags, accessories, and more.
750 Hours
At Wayne State University, we conduct financial literacy courses for students. We also teach small business courses to entrepreneurs at Middle Village and Growing Hope.
588 Hours
We support small business pitch competitions, like Detroit SOUP
204 Hours
Food banks like Gleaner’s and Bountiful Harvest help support the nearly 801,000 Michigan households who reported not having enough to eat.3
63 Hours
We’ve supported Michigan students by contributing to the LEAD Foundation and the 4CCF Mental Health Fund.
191 Hours
Isabella County Restoration House provides temporary shelter and housing assistance for individuals in need in the Mt. Pleasant area.
2,748 Hours
By giving back through organizations like United Way and Volunteers of America, our team helps Michigan neighborhoods become the best places to live, work, and play.
To help align our purpose and provide a common direction for decisions, actions, and goals, Lake Trust team members collaboratively created our new Lake Trust Compass. Including our vision, brand promise, values, and actions, the Compass collectively serves as our “true north” and guides our path forward. By embracing these core concepts, we can work together to make a bigger impact for our members. And our communities.
Our values include:
Curiosity. A desire to learn. A passion to explore. The agility to innovate.
Inclusivity. Creating a sense of belonging. Enabling and unleashing opportunities.
Togetherness. Building strong relationships. Collaborating to achieve impact.
Empathy. Compassionately engaging. A deep desire to help.
Authenticity. Always real. Always sincere. Always open.
Everyone is welcome, celebrated, and heard at Lake Trust, within our membership and our team. There’s power in all of us. And collectively, we can use this power to enhance our strength and create positive change.
In 2022, we committed to providing training around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to 100 percent of our active team members. And we enthusiastically met this goal. By taking the time to learn from one another and foster open conversations, we hoped to help everyone on our team gain a deep understanding of how each individual plays a role in creating a diverse and collaborative environment. With a heightened sense of awareness and knowledge on this topic, we made a commitment to better serve the needs of our team, membership, and the community.
In addition to providing DEI training for our team, we continued our support of fostering diversity, equity, & inclusion in the community by continuing our membership with the Michigan Diversity Council, and sponsoring events like:
Michigan ATHENA series
DEI series through Michigan Chamber of Commerce
National Black Men in Leadership Summit
Women in Leadership Symposium
Latin Americans United for Progress
1Value of Volunteer Time. (2023, March 20). Independent Sector. Retrieved from https://independentsector.org/value-of-volunteer-time-2021/
2U.S. Department of Labor. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2023, January 17). Consumer Price Index: 2022 in review. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2023/consumer-price-index-2022-in-review.htm
3White, R. (2023, January 16). Michigan Food Banks Have Less Food – and More People to Feed. Mlive. Retrieved from https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2023/01/michigan-food-banks-have-less-food-and-more-people-to-feed.html
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