Q&A With SPIRE Federal Credit Union CEO Dan Stoltz

Editor's Note: Throughout the month of December, SPIRE Federal Credit Union and the Minnesota Timberwolves' FastBreak Foundation presented by the Roger and Nancy McCabe Foudnation are teaming up to present Season of Giving. Throughout the month, Season of Giving will reach out to the community during the holiday season through various events including Holiday Shopping With Kids, the Amplatz Children Hospital Toy Dropoff, in-game presentations and more. On Wednesday, Timberwolves.com spoke with SPIRE's President and CEO Dan Stoltz to talk about Season of Giving. How long has SPIRE Federal Credit Union partnered with the Minnesota Timberwolves? Dan Stoltz: This will be our fourth year partnering with the T-Wolves. The first few years we're the official checking account with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and this year we added a little bit of a deeper relationship about giving back and being a part of the Season of Giving. Why did SPIRE get involved sponsoring the Season of Giving? DS: First of all, it's an honor and a privilege for us to be a part of the Wolves organization, but I really want to say that SPIRE and the Timberwolves are both committed organizations about giving back, so we wanted to be a part of that. Quite honestly, I think in today's news we always tend to focus on what's wrong and what I really love about this opportunity is that we really talk about what's right and people are giving a lot of their time and effort to make better communities in Minnesota. What does the impact of this Season of Giving mean to you? DS: It's been phenomenal. At court side, we're able to recognize people, and honestly, I think the biggest two words that we don't say enough is "thank you." For me, seeing that, and recognizing people that aren't normally in the spotlight, but to take some time and say thank you to these people that are giving a lot of their time. You recently took part in the Holiday Shopping With Kids event at SEVEN and Target. How incredible was that opportunity to see the joy on the kids' faces? DS: That was so much fun. I have to tell you, at first the kinds were all excited about just the shopping trip, and then they expanded that to say that you have a personal Timberwolves player to go with you, and just to see the eyes of these kids as these Timberwolves players came into the room, and then to see the kids interacting with the Wolves players in Target and actually picking out stuff, it was like Christmas time watching young kids open gifts, it was just a really fun event. SPIRE also has a big part in this month’s Toy Drive. Tell us about that initiative, who is donating toys and where they will go once the drive is complete. DS: The Toy Drive has been a really big event. We have 10 branches in the metro area, and what we're doing is at all of our branches is really trying to active our membership in the community on giving toys, and once we have those toys, we're going to wrap them so that we're going to be able to give those out to under-privileged kids, so we're really excited about that opportunity, too. You’re part of the on-court Hero recognition during home games this month. What is it like being there honoring them on court each night? DS: I really like that term, "Heroes in the Making" because these are people that are giving a lot of their time and really making some strong impacts one person at a time, so again, I think it's that opportunity to be on court side, recognize them in front of everybody, but then also to say thank you and give them a grant to further their mission and what they're all about. What we talk about at SPIRE, individually and corporately, we want to be known as "net givers" not "net takers" and this is a strong symbolism of that with SPIRE, to see these people giving back and seeing them really being "net givers" in their own lives, too. Where do you envision the partnership with the FastBreak Foundation going in the future? DS: I would like to see the program expand even more so. We're involved in the month of December, it's the perfect time with the Season of Giving, but I can really see this expand more throughout the whole calendar year as well.