Using
Our Voice

Using
Our Voice

Creating the feeling of home for all.

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of home. This special feeling serves as the background to your story. But the rising costs of construction and real estate, a lack of affordable housing options, and an increase in inflation are making the dream of homeownership difficult to achieve for many Michigan families. Realizing this great need, we worked together with community partners who share this vision to increase our affordable housing advocacy efforts in 2021.

West Boston Apartment Project

Located in the Boston-Edison neighborhood in Detroit, the West Boston Apartments are a 27-unit complex with 18 one-bedroom units and 9 two-bedroom units. Develop Detroit partnered with us to secure affordable housing grant funding from Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis (FHLBI) for the greatly needed rehabilitation and renovation of this building. The $320,000 grant, plus a $10,000 donation from us, will support an updated HVAC system, new roof, sidewalk repairs, and more. It was a surprise and a relief to Develop Detroit when they received news of their accepted grant application, as the process was extremely competitive with only one in three applications awarded due to volume of funds. Construction on the building is already underway.

Habitat For Humanity

As an engine of community and financial wellbeing, we were honored to support the Habitat For Humanity of Michigan's Legislators Building Hope advocacy event. This opportunity helped area nonprofit leaders connect with representatives to talk about local efforts to help low-income individuals and families secure safe, healthy, and affordable housing.

Kresge Foundation

There’s power in partnerships. Together with the Kresge Foundation, we supported the efforts of the United Community Housing Coalition to assist Michiganders who were facing eviction or housing instability due to financial impacts from COVID-19. With federal funding on hold, swift action was needed to provide emergency rental assistance and keep more Michigan families in their homes. With a working line of credit from Lake Trust, UCHC was able to cut checks to qualified applicants while waiting for Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) to reimburse the fund.

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Kresge Foundation1

This is a good example of philanthropy’s ability to respond quickly and flexibly in times of crisis.

— Rip Rapson, Kresge Foundation President, on Lake Trust’s partnership

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Family smiling on a couch

Read more about this story on:
WILX1
Kresge Foundation1

This is a good example of philanthropy’s ability to respond quickly and flexibly in times of crisis.

— Rip Rapson, Kresge Foundation President, on Lake Trust’s partnership

Our sponsorship contributes to the largest and longest-running annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Celebration in the country.

Lake Trust has been recognized as a “Michigan Best and Brightest in Wellness1 employer since 2017.

Supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

There’s no better time than today to start an honest conversation. To learn from one another. To stand up for the right thing to do. And to recognize the contributions and impact that can happen when we work together. In 2021, we continued to take strides toward supporting our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan

As a Diversity Partner for the 36th annual Day of Celebration, it was an honor to support the work of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan once again. This organization aligns with our commitment to inspire community engagement. Together, we advocate for building more vibrant neighborhoods by supporting initiatives that focus on health, wellbeing, education, and access to capital. In 2021, the celebratory event aired on television for the first time with over 14,000 viewers tuning in.

Juneteenth

An important day in history toward a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive future in our country took place on June 17, 2021. President Biden signed legislation to officially recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday. Though we anticipate that the Federal Reserve will be closed for the holiday in 2022, we felt that it was important to recognize the significance of Juneteenth immediately. To do this, all team members received an additional day of paid time off. As a proud supporter of the Lansing Juneteenth Celebration, we also recognized this historical day with the community.

Michigan ATHENA Series

Empowering women to take risks and pursue their dreams opens doors to new opportunities. With this understanding, we chose to be the presenting sponsor of the Michigan ATHENA series through the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. These virtual learning sessions explored the topics of finding your leadership style, learning how to boost your confidence & lead the way, and understanding the power of saying no. Over 1,600 attendees participated in these webinars and helped foster important discussions about equity in the workplace. In 2022, we’re continuing our sponsorship of this series.

Lake Trust has been recognized as a “Michigan Best and Brightest in Wellness1” employer since 2017.

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Providing meals for Michigan families.

Almost one in eight people in Michigan are facing hunger.2 And almost every county in Michigan has seen an increased need for access to fresh, healthy meals since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many households that experience food insecurity do not qualify for federal nutrition programs and rely on local food banks and other food programs for extra support.

To help, the Meals For Michigan program launched at the end of 2020 with a goal of raising enough funds to provide 225,000 meals. Since food bank partners in our communities are able to purchase food at wholesale prices, every $10 donated to Meals For Michigan provides 30 meals for someone in need. Donations to hunger-relief programs are greatly appreciated right now, as the burst of support for food banks at the beginning of the pandemic has started to decrease. This means that nonprofits are relying more on their own budgets to try to keep up with a rising demand for food, which has been especially challenging in a time of rising food costs and overall inflation3.

Throughout 2021, our members, team, and communities worked together to raise funds through Meals For Michigan. For a limited time in December 2021, the Lake Trust Foundation matched all donations to the program up to $10,000. With this match, a donation of just $10 could provide up to 60 meals for those in need. In addition, one dollar was donated to the program for every transaction that our members did at a video teller machine during this time. Over the two-week program period, we saw an increase in video teller machine transactions of almost 90 percent!

Through the generosity of the community, the Meals For Michigan program concluded on December 31 with enough funds to provide 304,770 meals to those in need. Funds from this initiative have already been disbursed to Food Gatherers in Ann Arbor and Gleaner’s in southeast Michigan. The remaining donation will be distributed to food banks across the state of Michigan in Spring 2022.

The Lake Trust Foundation launched an AmazonSmile profile in 2021, meaning you can help make an impact each time you shop at the online retailer.

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Moved By Good volunteer

The Lake Trust Foundation launched an AmazonSmile profile in 2021, meaning you can help make an impact each time you shop at the online retailer.

1Third party website. Lake Trust Credit Union is not responsible for the content, availability, security or compliance of any linked third party websites. In addition, the site's privacy policies may differ from those of Lake Trust.

2Hunger in Michigan. (2022, March 23). Feeding America. Retrieved from https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/michigan

3Higher prices for food, gas squeeze food banks, pantries, and clients. (2022, March 23). Gleaners Community Food Bank. Retrieved from https://www.gcfb.org/higher-prices-for-food-gas-squeeze-food-banks-pantries-and-clients/