Page 10 - MCUL: Contact Magazine - Q4 2019
P. 10
2019 Capitol Day
GRASSROOTS ENTHUSIASM:
THE BACKBONE OF THE CREDIT UNION INDUSTRY
By Christopher Estes
Those of us in the credit union industry, and most Contact members as well, they just don’t know as much about
readers, could probably talk for hours about what a credit our industry as we do.
union is, how credit unions help the communities that
we serve and why prospective members should consider If we want to create a grassroots level of enthusiasm
joining a credit union. But what about people who aren’t about our industry, we need to ensure that our member-
part of our industry? ship bases know where we come from. When we look
back to 1908 when the first credit union in the United
Have you considered that when they hear the words States (Manchester, New Hampshire-based St. Mary’s
“credit union,” those words don’t register for them like Cooperative Credit Association, now St. Mary’s Bank)
they do for you and me? For some of these people, credit opened its doors, we can see 111 years of people helping
unions are no different than community banks. For others people. Since then, we’ve had 111 years of members
who are still blissfully unaware of what a community char- saving money and 111 years of members borrowing
ter is, they think credit unions are organizations that you money. It’s a formula that worked in 1908 and we have
can only join if you work in certain places. Unfortunately proven that it still works in 2019. The graph on the next
for many prospective members, and for credit union page shows just how much the credit union industry has
grown in the last 11 years.
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