Karakoe, TopGolf, and Collaboration Make Big Impact for CMN Hospitals

Serving the underserved hits home for both credit unions and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals). Raising funds and awareness for 170 hospitals, CMN Hospitals provide 32 million treatments each year to kids across the U.S. and Canada.  

Gillette Children’s Hospital in Minnesota, member hospital of CMN Hospitals, are proud to offer excellent care for both short and long-term health needs from a world-renowned and internationally recognized staff. For more than 125 years, Gillette has focused on some of the toughest challenges in pediatric medicine. When families arrive at the door, they feel they’ve come home. 

Supporting the mission of Credit Unions for Kids (CU4Kids) through CMN Hospitals, more specifically Gillette, is a top priority for Farm Credit Employees Federal Credit Union President and CEO, Caitlin Brama. Serving on the CU4Kids committee through the Minnesota Credit Union Network, Brama has found a way to get involved in her community in a way that brings both purpose and fulfillment to her work/life balance.  

“One of my passions in life is helping kids – I love kids. Getting involved with CU4Kids collided two great worlds – the children’s hospital and my love for credit unions”, stated Brama. Serving on the committee for the past four years, Brama is looking to expand the committee by getting credit union’s involved from all over the state of Minnesota, not just the metro area.  

Getting credit unions to donate to CU4Kids is an easy ask, according to Brama. People helping people is at the forefront of every credit union’s mission along with serving the underserved. At Gillette, their reputation is unmatched when it comes to serving children’s health and mental needs – people serving people. Throughout the year, the CU4Kids committee completes 4 major fundraising events. In 2022, the committee was able to raise more than $174,000. The committee’s events include the Chain of Hearts campaign, Karaoke for Kids, an annual golf tournament and the newly added Top Golf event. 

“We have a great participation rate throughout the state, and an even better participation rate from some of our vendors”, stated Brama. At each of the events hosted by the committee, vendors or credit unions can be a major sponsor, getting name and brand recognition at the event and leading up to it. For credit unions looking to get involved with no cost to them, the Chain of Hearts campaign is a great start. The campaign encourages members, community residents and local businesses to purchase a paper heart and link with proceeds going to CMN Hospitals benefiting locally.  

If you find yourself attending the Minnesota Credit Union Network annual meeting, Accelerate, you’ll hear about the 2nd largest fundraising event for the committee, Karaoke for Kids. Conference attendees can participate in the event for a registration fee, with proceeds going directly to Gillette.  

Rounding out the 4 events for the year are the annual golf tournament and the Top Golf event, taking place in June and October respectively. With the annual golf tournament being the largest fundraiser for the committee, last year it raised more than $20,000 for CU4Kids. The newly created event, CU4Kids at Top Golf, was not far behind bringing in more than $10,000.  

When it comes to successful fundraising, CU4Kids and the committee in Minnesota knows how to get the job done. “The Minnesota Credit Union for Kids initiative is an amazing effort raising tens of thousands of dollars to support Gillette’s patients and their families, annually. Because of the commitment of credit unions and their employees, the impact on the lives of children is immeasurable.” stated Stephen Bariteau, Executive Vice President of Philanthropy at Gillette, “thank you to all who make this program a meaningful success.”  

When we change kids’ health, we change the future.  

Learn how your credit union can get involved. Visit CU4Kids.org to learn more.