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Health & Fitness

CCCS OF MD & DE RECEIVES 2013 SCHAEFER HELPING PEOPLE AWARD

Local nonprofit Consumer Credit Counseling Service of MD & DE (CCCS) received the William Donald Schaefer Helping People Award. Comptroller Peter Franchot presented the award for the nonprofit's efforts to financially educate Marylanders.

Local nonprofit Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Maryland and Delaware (CCCS) has received the William Donald Schaefer Helping People Award.  This honor was created by Comptroller Peter Franchot to commemorate the former Maryland governor’s life-long commitment to helping others.  It recognizes people and organizations in each county and Baltimore City who exemplify Schaefer’s legacy of compassion and public service.  This year CCCS received the award for Baltimore County.  On Friday, July 19, Comptroller Franchot met with other governmental leaders and CCCS staff and board members at the organization’s headquarters in Catonsville to present the award.  

Comptroller Franchot drew attention to the crucial role money management plays in Marylanders’ lives, noting “I don’t think there is any higher priority in our society today than to help people get control over their finances, because they can’t control their lives otherwise.” Bestowing the award, he said that CCCS embodies William Donald Schaefer’s “people-to-people empathy” and thanked the organization for its work. “Through your efforts, nearly 200,000 individuals and families became more financially literate and secure, and the State of Maryland is better for it,” he said.

Dr. Allen Cox, who served as master of ceremonies for the award presentation, is a staff member at the Maryland Council on Education (MCEE) and the Maryland Coalition for Financial Literacy.  He emphasized that CCCS President and CEO Jim Godfrey “has been a champion of financial education for more than two decades” and that CCCS “has helped teachers, students, school systems, and communities throughout Maryland become financially informed.” 

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Dr. Maddy Halbach, who works as an instructor for the Howard County Academy of Finance (AOF), described how CCCS’s partnership with MCEE on programs, such as the annual Maryland Personal Finance Challenge competition and Financial Education Summit, benefits scholars and educators alike.  She said, “Through CCCS’s support, I received valuable classroom materials that enhanced my instruction and engaged my students.  These materials integrate subject matter by applying it to the real world.”  She emphasized that teachers who attend these workshops not only acquire information and resources for use in their classrooms, they also “learn skills for their own personal use and financial growth.”  Halbach concluded by highlighting the hands-on opportunity CCCS gives her students by providing internships at its organization.  Eddie Lee, who participated on her award-winning Personal Financial Challenge competition team this past spring, now works as part of CCCS’s Online Education Support group. 

During the award presentation, CCCS Board member Chris DiPietro stressed that CCCS not only provides support to students and educators but also to “working families who need assistance managing their finances.”  He drew attention to CCCS’s commitment to helping Maryland and Delaware citizens weather the recent housing crisis.  Board members John Bratsakis and Bill Toomey also were present.

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Maryland State Delegate Shirley Nathan-Pulliam and Baltimore County Councilman Tom Quirk both honored CCCS with their remarks.  Nathan-Pulliam underscored the very human effects of personal finance and how it influences every facet of our lives. Quirk said, “The work CCCS does is critically important, because the budget counseling it provides helps people change and shape their behavior, so they are better prepared to deal with their finances.”  

Accepting the Helping People Award, Jim Godfrey thanked all those who were present.  He said, “Without the efforts of our employees, we could not achieve our mission. They are the backbone of our organization.”  He also recognized the contributions of governmental leaders like Comptroller Franchot, organizations “like the Maryland Council on Economic Education, and the wonderful teachers we are able to support.”  He said, “Here at CCCS, we have seen a lot of changes in the past 50 years.  But one thing has remained constant: It’s that better informed individuals make better decisions for the future.  Our goal is to give them the financial knowledge, tools, and hope to do just that.” 

If you’d like to learn more about the services and educational programs CCCS of MD & DE provides, please visit the organization’s website at www.cccs-inc.org.  To take advantage of the nonprofit’s free, confidential budget and credit counseling, please call 1-800-642-2227.  Financial, housing, and bankruptcy counseling are provided at its local offices throughout the Baltimore area, in Salisbury, Easton, Dover, and Wilmington, and by phone.

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Consumer Credit Counseling Service of MD & DE, Inc. (CCCS) is an accredited 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency that helps stabilize communities by creating hope and promoting economic self-sufficiency to individuals and families through financial education and counseling. CCCS MD State License #14-01

 

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