(Latham, NY) – This year, Sunmark Federal Credit Union’s 16th annual Golf Classic, which was held on August 24 at Shaker Ridge Country Club in Loudonville, raised more than $27,000 that will serve as seed money for the Sunmark Charitable Community Foundation.

To celebrate this new giving program, the Foundation awarded two scholarships in memory of Susan V. Siegel and Rachel J. Zimolka, two beloved Sunmark executives who were sought-out business mentors and vibrant members of the community.

“These inaugural scholarships are a way for us to honor two of our colleagues who passed away in recent years and to pay it forward to the next generation of community leaders,” said Bryan Delehanty, president of the Sunmark Charitable Community Foundation  “By establishing the Foundation, we’ve created a more formal structure for Sunmark’s community giving in the hopes of increasing the ways that we meet the community’s changing needs and inspiring others to step up as good corporate citizens.”

In keeping with these aspirations, scholarship applicants were asked to write a brief essay on the importance of community and the role of local business.

Scholarship winner Victoria Maddalone, who is attending Saint John Fisher College in Rochester, NY and is planning to major in business management wrote, “Our local businesses help bring our community to life.  They are the key reason why we have a second definition to the word community.  Our businesses bring people together.  They allow us to express and share out common interests with each other.  Our businesses make our community, a community.”

            Scholarship winner Liana Sinnott, who is attending Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA and is planning to major in business wrote, “Local business play an important role in the community, promoting both the economy and the communities’ spirit.  Communities are always helping encourage and support local entrepreneurs so that they can follow their dreams and open their own businesses.  These local businesses are essential to communities, providing jobs and boosting the local economy.”

In previous years, Sunmark’s golf tournament has raised significant donations in recent years for diverse organizations including the Arthritis Foundation NENY Chapter, the Fisher House at Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany and Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital in Schenectady.

The Sunmark Charitable Community Foundation, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit partner to Sunmark Federal Credit Union embodies the credit union philosophy of ‘People Helping People’ and works to help various communities, support financial education and improve the quality of life for those in need.

The Sunmark Foundation supports local, nonprofit organizations in the Capital Region by providing financial contributions, in-kind services, and volunteer support. Giving requests are assessed at monthly meetings.  Grant recipients are not required to be members of Sunmark but are required to be located within Sunmark’s six-county footprint (Albany, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, and Schoharie).

Request for Funds and Charitable Giving Guidelines are available on Sunmark’s website at https://www.sunmarkfcu.org/sunmark-foundation/ 

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About Sunmark Federal Credit Union:

Since 1937, Sunmark Federal Credit Union ($470 million in assets; 48,000+ members) has been helping members in the greater Capital Region community improve their financial position by offering a full range of mortgages, insurance products, retirement accounts and of course, savings and checking.  Sunmark is committed to the financial health and well-being of each member by offering tools that educate and inform and products and services that make it easier to reach financial goals such as planning a budget, saving for a home, repairing  credit or getting out of debt. For more information, call 518-382-0605 or visit www.sunmarkfcu.org