The “Tower Gives Back” Program Offers Employees the Opportunity to Give Back to the Community

[Laurel, Md.]—This holiday season, the spirit of giving and generosity was alive and well at Tower Federal Credit Union. Through the credit union’s “Tower Gives Back” program, employees have an opportunity to participate in a variety of events and programs to help families and at-risk children in the community—even if those events occur during the work week.

“We launched the Tower Gives Back program in September 2019 in response to Tower employees asking for ways to help support the TowerCares Foundation and the charities that the Foundation supports” said Rick Stafford, Tower’s President and CEO. “The mission of TowerCares is to help children in need, as well as brave and heroic individuals and their families who have sacrificed while protecting our freedom. Our employees wanted to put action behind the mission statement. Tower Gives Back provides an opportunity for them to do that.”

Tower employees, with their manager’s permission, can choose a volunteer opportunity taking place during the work day from a select group of nonprofits and events that the TowerCares Foundation supports, and will receive paid leave to do so. In the first two months of the program, Tower employees contributed over 60 volunteer hours.

“The program is offered as an option for employees interested in supporting TowerCares,” Stafford added. “There is no participation requirement or expectation.”

Participation in offsite events is limited to one employer-paid weekday event per calendar year. For Tower-sponsored events, employees receive t-shirts and personal vehicle mileage reimbursement. Additionally, one volunteer is selected annually to have a donation made in his or her name to the TowerCares organization of their choice.

Some recent examples of employee giving in action:

• Tower’s ITS/Operations Division filled and donated Christmas stockings for 54 pre-teens/teens at the Boys and Girls Club of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County’s Freetown Village Club in Pasadena, Md.
• During the holidays, Tower branches were drop-off locations for employees and members to donate toys, food items and clothing for Sarah’s House, a local transitional homeless shelter located in Fort Meade, Md. Representatives from Tower and the TowerCares Foundation gathered up all of the donations and delivered them to Sarah’s House.
• Several Tower departments “adopted” Sarah’s House families. They bought and wrapped Christmas gifts and toys for homeless families staying at the facility.
• At Tower’s headquarters in Laurel, Md., employees decorated a “Mitten Tree” with hats, scarves and gloves for Paul’s Place, which provides programs and afterschool care for at-risk children in Baltimore City.

“Tower employees truly take the credit union motto of ‘People Helping People’ to heart,” Stafford said. “Giving at Tower is a way of life, and some of those giving opportunities fall during the work week. While we also encourage participation in evening and weekend events, we are glad to help our employees find time to support causes they believe in.”