ICAN uses AmeriCU gift for Children’s Museum gift shop

UTICA, N.Y. — AmeriCU presented $150,000 to Integrated Community Alternatives Network (ICAN) to support a new gift shop for the Children’s Museum which will be located in ICAN’s Family Resource Center.

“The gift shop is an important area located in the glass rotunda, which is being constructed right now. It will be a place where kids and families can get a memento to take home to remember the great time they had together at the museum,” ICAN CEO/Executive Director Steven Bulger said in a news release. “We are very grateful for AmeriCU’s support of this exciting area.”

ICAN’s Family Resource Center brings together the organization’s youth and family programs and the Utica Children’s Museum together under one roof at 106 Memorial Pkwy. It will serve as a hub where families can access traditional and non-traditional supports to promote health and wellbeing. 

The Children’s Museum, on the second floor and in the rotunda, will offer socialization and hands-on educational experiences. ICAN expects to open the museum by the end of 2023.

“At AmeriCU, we value the importance of investing in the future of our community,” AmeriCU President/CEO Ron Belle said. “We are honored to help create a space for children and their families to learn and grown while having fun and spending real quality time together.”

Founded in 1997, ICAN is a home- and community-based network that provides individualized and non-traditional services and care to individuals and families with social, emotional, mental health, and behavioral challenges with a staff of more than 170 and an independent practice association of more than 250 providers.

AmeriCU serves more than 157,000 members with 20 locations in nine counties in central and northern New York. The credit union has $2.4 billion in assets.