Our locallift Partnership with Food Fort, Feeding Our Future

locallift Spotlight: The Food Fort: Feeding Our Future

At LincOne Federal Credit Union, our locallift partnerships are a commitment to doing business in a way that strengthens Lancaster County, Nebraska communities. When we partner with a local organization, we're not just offering a promotion. We're investing in the kind of community where our neighbors' organizations thrive.

This July, we're excited to announce our newest locallift partnership: Food Fort, a Lincoln nonprofit dedicated to serving children and families in under-resourced neighborhoods. This one is about more than a single transaction. It's about teaching the next generation of Lincoln how to build a strong financial future.

Introducing Food Fort

If you haven't heard of Food Fort yet, this summer is the perfect time to learn their story. Founded in 2016 by Executive Director Michaela Akridge, Food Fort set out to meet the deeper needs of underserved youth in Lincoln. What started as a meal service grew into something much bigger: a way to build real relationships with kids and families, and to identify and meet the needs behind those relationships.

Today, Food Fort runs four programs that carry out that mission:

• The Food Fort Bus: A renovated 1991 bus (once a Kansas City Chiefs party bus) that serves as a mobile "dinner table," bringing meals and consistent, caring adults directly into the neighborhoods of the youth Food Fort serves.
• TreeTop: An education-focused trailer where kids come for homework help, mentorship, and supplemental learning activities year-round.
• The Giving Garden: A seasonal fresh produce program that delivers healthy food to youth and families each summer, grown with help from partners like First Free Evangelical and Nebraska Extension.
• Feeding Our Future Scholarships: Awarded to up to four youth per year each May, helping Food Fort's kids carry their education into adulthood.

Every week, Food Fort's sites operate in three Lincoln neighborhoods, Clinton, West Lincoln, and Saratoga, bringing meals, mentorship, and education right to where the kids are. We chose Food Fort as our locallift partner because they represent exactly what this program is about: a local organization doing hard, hands-on work to invest in Lincoln's future.

locallift is our commitment to partnering with Nebraska businesses and organizations, keeping member spending, and member support, rooted right here at home.

This July: Teaching Financial Literacy to Lincoln's Kids

This month, our locallift partnership with Food Fort centers on a mission close to our own: building financial literacy for the next generation. Throughout July, we're working alongside Food Fort's programs to bring age-appropriate financial education to the kids they serve, helping them build healthy money habits early.

There are two simple ways our members and community can be part of it:

1. Support Food Fort

Food Fort runs entirely on the generosity of its community. You can support their work by:

• Volunteering: Food Fort relies on volunteers to help run the Bus, TreeTop, and Giving Garden programs each week. Sign up to volunteer directly with their team.
• Donating: Every dollar helps Food Fort keep its bus running, its shelves stocked, and its scholarships funded. You can donate directly to Food Fort to support their programs.

2. Open a locallift Rewards Checking Account

The second way to get involved starts with your own finances. Opening a LocalLift Rewards Checking account is a great opportunity to build the same kind of healthy financial habits we're helping teach Food Fort's kids this summer, a competitive APY on your everyday balance, cash back on debit purchases, and no monthly fees, all while keeping your everyday spending rooted in the Lincoln community.

Ready to get started? Sign up to volunteer with Food Fort  and open a locallift Rewards Checking account today,

How locallift Connects to Your Everyday Banking

The Food Fort partnership is part of a bigger picture. locallift is woven into how we think about the products we offer and the organizations we support. When you choose LincOne for your financial needs, you're part of a network that actively works to keep Nebraska dollars and Nebraska support right here in the Lancaster County community. Now that feels pretty good. 

Here's how that connects across our products:

• Rewards Checking: Earn a high APY on your everyday balance and cash back on debit purchases, with no monthly fees. When you shop local with your debit card, your spending supports Lincoln businesses and organizations while it earns you money.
• Financial Education: Just as we're helping Food Fort teach financial literacy to Lincoln's kids this summer, we believe every member deserves the tools to build a strong financial foundation, at any age.
• Community Investment: Every locallift partnership, whether with a local shop or a local nonprofit, is one more way we put our resources behind the people and organizations that make Lincoln stronger.

These pieces aren't separate; they work together. A member who opens a rewards checking account is doing more than banking locally; they're joining a credit union that reinvests in Lincoln's future, one partnership at a time.