Decatur, Illinois, January 11th, 2026 – Land of Lincoln Credit Union (LLCU) donated $10,000 in LLCU VISA® Gift Cards to several central Illinois Law Enforcement Agencies. The gift cards will be used, at the discretion of the patrolling officers, to spread good will throughout the community, offering them to citizens when they see a need. This was done in effort to show support of local law enforcement in celebration of National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, celebrated on January 9th.
LLCU started the tradition of providing these gift cards to local officers several years ago with the goal of helping local law enforcement agents to foster strong relationships with the citizens that live in the communities and neighborhoods they serve. Local officials offered positive feedback about the good deeds that they were able to do with the gift cards throughout the communities.
“Our local police officers are frontline at witnessing the many needs of individuals and families in our communities,” stated LLCU President & CEO, Robert Ares. “We are aware that many officers try to help people in need using money out of their own pockets, which is honorable and kind, but we [at LLCU] wanted to provide an additional resource for officers who want to help when there is a need.”
The $10,000 donated to the police departments were donated as individual $25 VISA® Gift Cards that officers will have on hand while patrolling and be able to offer when they see a need.
“We truly appreciate this donation from LLCU,” stated Erik Ethell, Decatur Deputy Chief of Police. “It gives our Officers a resource to offer help to someone in need, whether it’s a child in need of a coat, someone needing a hot meal, tank of gas, etc. These are needs many of us take for granted but our Officers see these needs going unmet every day. Now they will have another way to help.”
Police Departments in the following cities (all within LLCU service area) were recipients of this donation: Bloomington, Centralia, Colchester, Decatur, Effingham, Mattoon, Nokomis, Pana, Springfield, & Vandalia.