Annually, The Arbor Financial Caring Committee identifies community initiatives that need our support. This year's initiatives focused on helping our local youth and providing food and basic needs to our community.  We also acted quickly to help those in our community affected by the tornado in Portage. The committee was founded in 1998 and is a staff-led team of volunteers who have dedicated time and energy to serving local charities throughout West Michigan. In 2024, the Caring Committee donated over $25,000 to local charities! Our Caring Committee is excited to share with you what they accomplished this year. 

Supporting Our Youth Initiatives

This year, at the beginning of the school year, we wanted to help children feel confident and comfortable entering the new school year. We partnered with local organizations in both the Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo area to help purchase thousands of new shoes for local youth. We also had an amazing group of staff volunteers help fit children with the perfect pair of shoes to enter the school year feeling great. 

• First Day Shoe Fund ($2,500) 
• In the Image ($3,000)
  

When brainstorming how we could help our youth thrive this year, we focused on combining our two main initiatives and gave back by working with Kid's Food Basket! No child should go hungry, so we worked with Kid's Food Basket to provide 10,000 sack suppers a day across 60 schools throughout Kent, Ottawa, and Allegan counties. This helps children get more than one meal a day and helps their families immensely. In order to help Kid's Food Basket, we volunteered time packing up suppers, attended their Farm to Table Dinner, and gave $1,500. We are so proud to have organizations like this in our community and are proud to be able to help make a difference! 

Provide Food and Supplies to Our Local Community 

We also had a focus on helping those around us in need. In doing this, we worked closely with local shelters and food pantries to help provide needed materials and food to our local community. It is our goal to help ensure that those in our community are taken care of. View the list below to see how we worked to achieve this goal in 2024. 

• The Caring committee and staff donated an 200+ packages of baby care items to Keystone Place (Mendon), In the Image (Kent County), Christian Neighbors (Allegan), and Spring Valley Church (Kalamazoo) 
• Donated $3,000 in winter gear plus additional staff donations to The Dream Center (Kalamazoo) and Mel Trotter Ministries (Kent County) 
• Donated $10,000 to local food banks and pantries. The following places received a donation: Wyoming Family Network (Kent County), Allegan County Food Bank, Eleanor's Pantry (Van Buren County), Three Rivers Food Site Pantry, and Generous Hands (Kalamazoo County)

Tornado Relief  

This year, our community unexpectedly faced a natural disaster that affected many people. Arbor Financial worked quickly to help our member families affected by the tornado, and our caring committee worked quickly to donate our time and money to the community. We donated to the following organizations, helping those affected. It is all of us in our community coming together in times of need that make us strong and resilient. 

• Kalamazoo Community Foundation ($1,000)
• St. Joe County United Way ($1,000)
• Community Home Works in Kalamazoo ($3,000) and volunteer time 

To raise funds for donations and supplies, the Caring Committee partners with team members of Arbor Financial through the Casual for a Cause Day initiative. Casual for a Cause Day is supported by participating Arbor Financial employees who donate $5 from every paycheck. As donations begin accumulating, the Caring Committee takes funds and donates to areas of need within the communities we serve. Staff vote on these areas of need annually.