A local credit union has donated $10,000 to a local foundation.
Leyden Credit Union donated the money to the Unity in Community Foundation. Both entities are based in Franklin Park, although both serve needs throughout Leyden Township.
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Former Franklin Park village trustees Tom Brimie and Rosalba Rodrigues started the Unity in Community Foundation in 2009. For its first two years, the foundation raised money for local food pantries.
Then, they expanded. In 2011, they raised money to buy a van for Lucia Ramirez, then an East Leyden student with a rare disease that causes areas of her brain to shrink. In 2012, the foundation raised money for Mike Sliwinski, a Franklin Park electrician who was burned in a work accident. In 2013, the foundation raised money for a service dog for Kasey Scotella, a senior at East Leyden with epilepsy.
“It’s huge,” said Tom Brimie of the donation. To put the $10,000 donation in context, last year the foundation raised about $26,500 total.
The Unity in Community Foundation plans to use the majority of the $10,000 for its Community Wishes program it started in November 2014. Community Wishes aims to help more people, albeit those with less expensive needs.
“A young college girl we bought an iBook for,” Brimie said. “We had a couple requests for people with hardship. One was a teacher aide at high school. We helped her pay some bills.”
“They are all about helping those in need in Leyden Township,” said credit union CEO David Lukas in a press release.