Youth Initiatives

Youth Week 2008 Success Stories

Magnolia Federal Credit Union
Gigi Williams

We had a fun youth week! I held my Cub Scout meeting at our local branch, where they received the youth week giveaways including temporary tattoos (which they then wore to school all week!), the fortune teller flyer, quarter tubes, skittles, juice boxes, and gummies.

Account holders will be entered in a drawing for an iPod Nano, and we participated in the National Youth Savings Challenge as well. We had a couple of radio ads about youth week running on a local station.

We are thinking of having a special event on Saturday next year (something involving hot dogs and a moon jump), because we realized that since the kids are in school, we are not going to get them in the lobby much during the week. We had many parents enjoying skittles and juice boxes!

St. Bernadette Credit Union
Mary

We will be giving every depositor a GREEN planter pot with a pack of seeds and dirt, offering a snack each day, a bounce ball, pen, or book marker, and then a drawing at the end of the week. We have listed this on our web site and flyer in our office. The employees will also be wearing our "GO GREEN" t-shirts.

Community Financial Credit Union
Vicki Owens

Community Financial CU Click for larger view

For the second year in a row, Community Financial Credit Union welcomed third-grade students for a tour of the credit union. Forty-four third-grade students from Pleasant View Elementary in Springfield, Missouri, toured the main office of Community Financial Credit Union as part of the Springfield Public School System’s “Students Go To Work” program and National Credit Union Youth Week.

Two third-grade classes were invited for the tours: Mrs. Dana Hagler’s and Mrs. Terri Schaffitzel’s. The classes were divided into small groups and visited each department, learning valuable information about being a good employee as well as the benefits of being a credit union member.

The students received a small gift or item from each department to help them remember what they learned. The Financial Services Department (new accounts and loans) gave sample checkbooks. The Marketing Department gave customized KIRBY KANGAROO Club newsletters welcoming the classes as well as a sample of our product (pennies). One of the favorite keepsakes was the bag of shredded currency they received from the Accounting Department.

According to the students, one of the highlights of the tour was seeing the inside of an ATM and how it worked. After the tours, the students enjoyed a pizza lunch and, as a special surprise, each student was “paid” a new dollar coin for their morning’s work.

Novartis Federal Credit Union
Ann South

Novartis FCU Click for larger view

Novartis Federal Credit Union celebrated National Youth Savings Week and Take your Child to Work Day. Tours of the credit union branches, special environmentally friendly gifts, and money management information were given to most of the over 1,900 youths accompanying their parents to work on April 24 at the Novartis worksites.

In addition, credit union CEO Ann South conducted several age-specific financial education sessions. Each session was attended by 20-30 youth and taught them the importance of “Saving, Spending and Sharing” their money. All attendees were given a special Moonjar which will continue to enforce the lessons given.

North Jersey Federal Credit Union
Danielle Adams-Neuhs

North Jersey FCU Click for larger view

North Jersey FCU Click for larger view

North Jersey Federal Credit Union employees walked and participated in the March of Dimes March for Babies on Sunday, April 27, at the Wayne Hills High School, Wayne. NJFCU also sponsored a checkpoint by handing out water and other giveaways to the walkers. NJFCU raised funds to help fight premature births; a growing crisis that now affects a half million babies born in the United States every year. North Jersey Federal Credit Union members and employees collectively raised $4,500 for the March for Babies and through other fundraising efforts including – Baby Footprint Cards and a Blue Jeans for Babies Day.

North Jersey Federal Credit Union employees also recently taught three, second-grade classrooms at Maple Avenue Elementary School in Newark. The class curriculum was made possible through Junior Achievement, Inc. This non-for- profit organization provides economic education programs to help our children become more financially literate. To help support NJFCU’s involvement with the JA-In-a-Day program, NJFCU sold $3 paper schoolhouses in support of Junior Achievement. Members and employees were able dedicate a paper schoolhouse to a child, a teacher, or a role-model in their own life.

Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union
Kathy Ferrusi

Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union (HVFCU) helped more than 180 area kids get on the road to financial freedom by opening new savings and certificate accounts. The youth account deposits resulted in over $500,000 in deposits. Additionally, HVFCU participated in the Credit Union National Association’s (CUNA) National Youth Savings Challenge. This environmentally friendly themed campaign encouraged kids to participate in a “Got Green Challenge,” which got young members thinking about saving money and the importance of taking care of the environment. HVFCU youth members pledged to return approximately 23,000 cans and bottles that would yield them a savings of more that $1,200.

2008 is the third year HVFCU participated in the National Youth Savings Challenge. Each year, our employees participate in the creation and coordination of branch displays with a national theme. HVFCU received more than 60 great entries.

To help in reaching young adults, each HVFCU branch gave away a $100 U.S. Savings Bond and a grand prize of a $250 Save Smart certificate. In addition, staff members actively approached young adults who entered a branch and talked about the importance of having a healthy financial plan.

Sandia Area FCU Click for larger view

Sandia Area Federal Credit Union
Jennifer Harris Picture

Thank you for the nice letter that accompanied the $100 prize for our Youth Savings Challenge winner. Shown is our winning youth member, Millicent, claiming her prize.

Sidney Federal Credit Union
Elise Glassett

We are going along a similar line as the savings challenge with our 11-19 year-old members. If they make a deposit of at least $10 into their savings account they are automatically put into a drawing for three iPods that we are giving away. For our younger members 0-10, they receive a coloring a page, which we will put in the lobby. They also receive seeds, stickers, a CUNA lobby piece, and a "growth" chart.

Community Development Credit Unions (CDCUs)
Rafael Morales

As the 2008 National Credit Union Youth Week begins, community development credit unions (CDCUs) around the country are preparing to reach out to encourage youth members in their communities to save.

At Alternatives Federal Credit Union (Ithaca, NY,) Development Educator Joe Cummins will give out pencils made from $7.00 in recycled U.S. currency to youth at their headquarters. Alternatives Federal Credit Union, which also has branches in five local schools, will have a raffle at each branch. Students who make a deposit this week are eligible to win a cash prize.

Other CDCUs without youth credit unions are also planning to celebrate Youth Week. Generations Community Credit Union’s (Durham, NC) nine branches will waive the membership fee for any new youth accounts opened this week.

According to Mortgage Officer Nathan Farrior, Generations Community Credit Union, which made great progress last year by signing up youth of all ages, is capitalizing on the National Credit Union Week theme: Got Green? Grow it at Your Credit Union! “We’ll be teaching our youth about the differences between credit unions and banks and how they can save for the future,” explained Farrior. “Building on this year’s theme, we’ll also be discussing why protecting the environment is an important goal, and how the green economy can help our communities.”

In San Francisco, Mission SF Federal Credit Union will present a $100 prize to one lucky youth who makes a deposit into their account this week. Margaret Libby, Executive Director of Mission SF Community Financial Center, Mission SF Federal Credit Union’s non-profit affiliate, will also be announcing the names of two youth who will attend the National Federation of Community Development Credit Union’s (Federation) Youth Network Annual Conference, which runs parallel to the 34th Annual Conference on Serving the Underserved, being held in Dallas, June 11-14, 2008.

Also on the schedule for the youth conference is a day of volunteering at the Jubilee Center, a co-operative leadership workshop, and the opportunity to play CUNA’s Mad City Money™ simulation.

State Employees' Credit Union
Sandra Jones

State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU) just completed its fourth annual Saving Challenge for Fat Cat and Zard youth members. Held in conjunction with National Credit Union Youth Week and North Carolina’s Financial Literacy for Youth Month, the challenge featured a “Got Green-Grow It At Your Credit Union” theme. Throughout the week, nearly 600 new youth accounts were opened and 13,288 members deposited over $1.8 million into their youth accounts!

This year’s campaign gave young members the opportunity to win an extra deposit for saving during the Challenge. When a deposit was made to any Fat Cat or Zard savings account during the week, the account holder was automatically entered into a random drawing. Three Fat Cat and three Zard members were awarded extra deposits, with grand prize winners receiving $100, second prize winners receiving $75 and third prize winners receiving $50.

In addition to the Saving Challenge, various SECU branches around the state held extra events in honor of National Credit Union Youth Week and Financial Literacy for Youth Month. Highlights included appearances from SECU’s youth mascot, Fat Cat, appreciation days for youth members, and educational workshops at local schools. These educational opportunities are increasingly important as revealed in a 2008 survey by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, where only 45.6% of North Carolina students received a passing grade on the financial literacy questions.

Hanover Federal Credit Union in Wilmington
Melanie Knotts

Hanover FCU Click for larger view

Hanover Federal Credit Union in Wilmington, NC, participated for the first time in the National Credit Union Youth Week this year. Being the first year to be involved we were not really sure what to expect, but we were very happy with our results. During the week we had a table set up with entry boxes for kids and adults. The kids could enter their name in for the savings challenge along with a chance to win free passes to a local miniature golf establishment or passes to Power of Play, a great indoor play area. They could also put in a guess on how many pennies were in the piggy bank for a chance to win a Presidential Coin Collection Frame with four of the new, uncirculated gold dollars. There was a coloring contest with a prize of $10 too. The adults who opened accounts for kids put their names in for a drawing for a free one-hour massage at a local day spa or a $25 gift card to Olive Garden. Each kid who opened an account received a coloring book or comic book, a pencil, a sticker, some extra handouts like a sheet on how to learn the value of each coin and a word find, a crayon bank, and a Hanover Federal Credit Union t-shirt. Everyone loved their goodies!

We ended the week with a Kids’ Fun Day on Saturday. We had a bouncy castle, a clown, pizza, drinks, music, games, and the local police department, sheriff department, and fire department vehicles on display. The turnout was great and we all had loads of fun!

Eaton Family CU Click for larger view

Eaton Family Credit Union
Fred Siegle

The Got Green? image worked well with our marketing this month. Shown is a flyer that we distributed in schools and the lobby.

TPS CU Click for larger view

TPS CU Click for larger view

TPS Credit Union
Crissy Merrill

We had a truly amazing turnout for Youth Week. We celebrated the entire week and encouraged youth saving by offering to match up to $10 per child on new youth accounts or deposits into existing youth accounts. For the week, we had a total of 79 new youth accounts and 181 deposits into youth accounts totaling over $9300. We were completely overjoyed at the response we received.

In addition to our matching $10, we had our third annual Youth Fair on Saturday where we invited our youth members to come enjoy a morning of games, prizes, and food. At the fair we unveiled our credit union’s mascot, Speedy the Apple. Speedy was a big hit at the fair, shaking hands with members and having its picture taken with the children.