Photo: Members of the Midland Empire Chapter commemorate their donation to the Yellowstone River Parks Association. Janice Lehman (SEG FCU), Tom Boos (Billings FCU), Ed Gillig (Valley CU), Brandon Scala (Valley CU), Daryl Wilson (Yellowstone River Parks Association), Jeanine Blehm (Big Sky FCU), and Nancy Harris (Billings FCU).

The Midland Empire Chapter of Credit Unions recently donated $12,000 to Yellowstone River Parks Association to fund a covered picnic area at Dover Park in Billings. Each spring, chapter members hold a community Shred-A-Thon where they, in addition to accepting tons of shredded paper, they collect donations for a local nonprofit organization. This year's community contributions, along with some matching donations and a block donation from the chapter, made up the funds necessary to build this picnic spot for the Billings community. Nancy Harris, treasurer of the chapter, said, “the projects we do each year always act as a service to our community. It is great how this gives us an opportunity to combine resources from many credit unions to do something great.” In this case, that means supporting the volunteer efforts of the Yellowstone River Parks Association and providing the community with a wonderful picnic area.

Members of the the Midland Empire Chapter include (in alphabetical order) Altana FCU, Big Sky FCU, Billings FCU, Homestead FCU, Montana Health FCU, Rimrock CU, SEG FCU, Sky FCU, and Valley CU.