FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Salt Lake City – Nov. 18, 2021 – While presenting Corner Canyon High School student Isabel Crofts with a scholarship in August, America First Credit Union’s Chief Strategic Engagement Officer Tammy Gallegos challenged the scholarship-recipient to collect 1,000 pounds of food for the Utah Food Bank—a nonprofit Crofts volunteers with regularly. Gallegos said that if this goal was met, the credit union would donate $1,000 to Corner Canyon High School’s athletic program.
Crofts, a 3.96 grade point average student-athlete at the Draper school, not only met the challenge but exceeded the goal by an additional 2,000 pounds. During Friday afternoon’s 6A semifinal at Rice-Eccles Stadium where Corner Canyon defeated Weber High School, America First surprised Crofts with a check for $3,304 to match dollar-for-pound the food collected by the multi-sport athlete.
Crofts, who plays volleyball, basketball and track & field for Corner Canyon, is a part of the Humanitarian African Relief Team and donates her time at the Utah Food Bank. All her work in the classroom, on the court and in the community resulted in her being named the scholar athlete of the week by America First Credit Union, KJZZ and KMYU in August.
In addition to the food donated by Crofts, America First Credit Union donated more than $32,000 to the Utah Food Bank during their annual food drive which concluded at the end of October. The not-for-profit credit union collected more than $17,000 from community donations and donated an additional $15,000 to reach the total donation amount.
Quotes:
“It’s a super passionate thing for me because there are people out there who are not as blessed and to go without food is hard,” said Isabel Crofts. “I just turned to my teammates and my administration at Corner Canyon, and we were able to come together and raise food for those in need so they could have a great winter. Our school really rose to this challenge. I was super proud of them and I am just grateful for everyone that helped out from my teammates, my coaches and student body.”
“I was so proud to hear that Isabel not only met the challenge I gave her but exceeded it,” said Tammy Gallegos, Chief Strategic Engagement Officer at America First Credit Union. “Knowing that she exceeded her goal, we wanted to increase our donation to Corner Canyon’s athletics department to meet what she was able to give to the Utah Food Bank. As a credit union, we are always looking for ways to acknowledge and reward people helping people within our community.”
“From day one Isabel has been a dream member of the Corner Canyon community,” said Corner Canyon High School Athletic Director Patrick Thurman. “She has been involved with athletics, attends events to support the other students and has been an incredible student. She did all of the work to organize the food drive, where she showed her leadership skills and dedication to helping others.”
“The credit union is focused on the philosophy of people helping people,” said Nicole Cypers, America First’s VP of Government Affairs and Public Relations. “With our member contributions and the food contributions from Corner Canyon, we were able to collect enough to equate to over 113,000 meals which would feed 26 families of four for an entire year. It was a huge contribution and helped make the food drive a success.”
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ABOUT AMERICA FIRST CREDIT UNION
Proudly celebrating 82 years of servicing members and a long-standing history, America First Credit Union has become one of the largest, most stable and most progressive credit unions in the country, and has remained a member-owned, not-for-profit cooperative financial institution. Today, America First has 120 locations, and is the eighth largest credit union in assets in the United States with over $16 billion, and the fifth largest credit union in membership in America with more than 1.2 million members.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Nicole Cypers
America First Credit Union
801.827.8655
ncypers@americafirst.com
Kelsey Richardson
R&R Partners
801.913.9454
kelsey.richardson@rrpartners.com
