Message from the President
I’m proud to report that 2022 was another impressive year for the TowerCares Foundation. We continued to provide support for 83 charitable organizations that align with our mission of supporting the brave and heroic individuals and their families who sacrificed while protecting our freedom.
From fighting Veteran homelessness, to providing medical care for critically ill children and awarding scholarships for military spouses—and so much more—TowerCares continues to provide a brighter future for thousands in need in our community. Since our inception in 2015, we have provided over $1.7 million in grants, donations, and scholarships as of the end of last year.
Launched in February 2021, the Pennies for Change program continued strong throughout 2022. Through this program, Tower Federal Credit Union donates one cent to the TowerCares Foundation every time a Tower member uses his or her debit or credit card. Pennies for Change contributed $250,000 to the TowerCares Foundation last year. All those pennies add up to make a big impact, and enable us to do even more to support local military heroes, Veterans, DoD civilian employees, and children in need.
In 2022, we further expanded our annual college scholarship program from ten to fifteen $5,000 scholarships, for a total of $75,000 in awards to students pursuing careers in STEM and foreign language linguistics fields. The winners were an exemplary group of young men and women, and over half of them have parents currently serving or who have served in the U.S. Military. I am excited the Foundation could help ease some of the financial burden of higher education for these future leaders and their families. Since 2018, TowerCares has awarded $200,000 in college scholarships.
On a sunny day in June, we held our annual Tower Classic Golf Tournament to benefit the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Baltimore’s local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. Over 90 golfers participated in the tournament and we raised $60,000—our highest amount yet!—to help critically ill children and their families. The amount included a $10,000 match by CO-OP Financial Services through their Miracle Match program. As a special memento of the day, I presented each player with a TowerCares commemorative challenge coin.
We ended the year with special holiday donations to four exceptional charities, including $10,000 for the USO’s Project Elf to help provide holiday gifts for military families; $4,000 for the Angel Fund; $5,000 for the Fort Meade Spouses Club food pantry; and $5,000 for FISH of Laurel, a local volunteer-run food pantry and meal kitchen that provides 35,000 meals every year.
These are just a handful of ways that TowerCares is making a real impact to improve the lives of so many individuals and families in our community. 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 military heroes, Veterans, and children in need.
I also wanted to congratulate one of our own TowerCares Board members, Arland White Jr., who was recognized last year by the National Association of Federally-insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) as Volunteer of the Year. Arland also serves as Chairman of Tower’s volunteer Board of Directors, and recently retired from a distinguished 40-year career with the Department of Defense. The award was well-deserved and I want to thank Arland for his leadership and dedication to both Tower and the TowerCares Foundation.
On behalf of the entire TowerCares Board, thank you for partnering with us in 2022. We are making a difference in the lives of so many in need in our community, and none of this would be possible without your generous support.
