Message from the President
2023 was an exciting year for the TowerCares Foundation. We reached an impressive milestone—over $2 million in grants, donations, and scholarships! From providing care for critically ill children to fighting Veteran homelessness in our community and helping our military heroes heal both physically and emotionally—plus so much more—TowerCares continues to provide hope and support for so many in need.
Throughout the year, we continued to support 103 incredible charitable organizations that align with our mission of helping our military heroes, Veterans, Department of Defense (DoD) civilian employees, and children in need. I encourage you to get to know all of the amazing charities we support, and the life-changing work they do every day to help make a brighter future for all.
This year, we celebrated Tower Federal Credit Union’s 70th anniversary by donating $70,000 to local charities in support of our mission. Seven charities each received a $10,000 donation. Even more special is that Tower employees, who have been ardent supporters of TowerCares since our inception in 2015, selected the charities.
We expanded our annual college scholarship program from 15 to 30 $5,000 scholarships, for a total of $150,000 in awards to students pursuing STEM or Foreign Language Linguistics majors. More than half of this year’s impressive group of winners have military/DoD affiliation. Since 2018, TowerCares has awarded $360,000 in college scholarships to help ease some of the financial burden of higher education for these future leaders and their families.
The Pennies for Change program continued strong throughout 2023 and contributed $325,000 to TowerCares. Through this program, Tower Federal Credit Union donates a penny to the TowerCares Foundation each time a Tower member uses his or her debit or credit card. All those pennies add up to make a big impact!
In June, we held our annual Tower Classic Charity Golf Tournament to benefit the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, a local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. The tournament raised $61,000—our highest amount to date—to help sick children and their families. The funds raised included a $10,000 match by CO-OP Financial Services through their Miracle Match program.
To commemorate Veterans Day and honor our nation’s Veterans, in November we made a special $10,000 donation to the Maryland Center for Veterans’ Education and Training, fondly known as MCVET. Located in Baltimore City, MCVET helps Veterans in need in our community reintegrate into civilian life successfully.
We ended the year with a special donation to 11 local food banks, in partnership with Tower Federal Credit Union, to help restock pantry shelves and meet the increased need for meals during the holidays. Six food banks each received $5,000 and five food banks each received $500 from TowerCares. Once again, we asked Tower employees to nominate the charities.
These are just a handful of ways that TowerCares has made a real impact in the lives of so many individuals and families in our community this year. On behalf of the entire TowerCares Board, thank you for partnering with us. We are making a real difference and none of what we do would be possible without your ongoing support.
