Horizon employees give back to community

MOSES LAKE — The team at Horizon Credit Union took some time away from the office Tuesday to tackle a different line of work.

“We’ve been doing this for about 10 years,” said Branch Manager Anthony Morris. “We close our branch down at noon and then we spend about four or five hours donating our time to the community.”

The effort was part of Horizon’s “Go. Give. Grow.” event, in which all branches closed for half a day so employees could volunteer at a local nonprofit. Eight Moses Lake branch employees spent their afternoon at the Moses Lake Food Bank, sorting and packaging fresh produce.

“We just got done bagging plums, cherries, peaches, tomatoes,” said Pieper Hansen, who was sealing bananas in plastic with coworkers Mary Garza and Rachel Buckle. 

“This is my first time,” said Kim Deuel, who was sorting apples with Tyra Medicine Bear. “I just started with the credit union last October. I used to do a lot of volunteer work years ago, but this is my first time in a while.”

Horizon Credit Union, headquartered in Spokane, has 28 branches in Washington, Oregon,  Montana and Idaho, according to its website. Moses Lake and Ephrata are the westernmost locations and the only ones in central Washington. The Ephrata branch did its volunteer hours at the Soap Lake Food Bank, according to Public Relations Specialist Jessica Medeiros.

Horizon Credit Union is headquartered in Spokane. The Moses Lake and Ephrata branches comprised Columbia Basin Federal Credit Union until 2006, when CBFCU merged with Horizon. Horizon Chief Operations Officer Mark Neumann, who had been the CEO of CBFCU before the merger, was at the Moses Lake Food Bank Tuesday pitching in on banana duty.

“I used to live in this community for eight years,” Neumann said. “So, it’s great to come back and hang out with my people."

    Horizon Credit Union employees Tyra Medicine Bear (left) and Kim Deuel sort and package apples at the Moses Lake Food Bank Tuesday.