MILTON — Pen Air Federal Credit Union announced the 2020 Jeans for Communerosity charities (J4C) that will each receive a gift of $5,000.
The Jeans for Communerosity is a program Pen Air started in 2013 as a way of giving back to the local communities they serve.
The company encourages employees to volunteer their time to local non profit organizations. Toward the end of the year employees nominate an organization to receive a gift of $5,000.
The organizations have to be in Escambia, Santa Rosa or Oakalossa counties to qualify.
Pen Air employees are asked to vote and the top 10 organizations each receive a check.
The company collects the money for the gift by matching the amount of money their employees give.
For the 2020 drive, 37 organization were nominated. The first charity to receive its gift was Family Promise in Milton. The total money that will be gifted this year is $50,000.
Through J4C, the employees have given more than $290,000 since the programs began in 2013. Pen Air estimates $170,000 came directly from the pockets of employees.
“We look for organizations with the same values we have in our organization,” said Stewart Ramsey, CEO of Pen Air, as he presented the check to Family Promise.
“It’s important to give back to the community,” added Debbie Kemp, an assistant vice president at Pen Air who also volunteers at Family Promise.
Family Promise provides financial planning, social services, employment skills training, as well as educational opportunities to families in need. They concentrate their efforts toward homeless families with school-age children.
For more information on Family Promise, go to www.familypromisesrc.org/about.html.
Other charities selected to receive gifts through the 2020 Jeans for Communerosity program are Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.), Council on Aging, FoodRaising Friends Inc., Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation, The Lighthouse of Baldwin County, Miracle League of Pensacola, Pensacola Habitat for Humanity, The Secret Place Home, and United Methodist Childrens Home.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa's Press Gazette: Pen Air announces 2020 Jeans for Communerosity charities