People have asked me why I love credit unions the way I do or how could I work in an industry as long as I did. The reason is because it's the people ... the people who need financial services they can afford and those that serve them everyday. After all these years, most people that I meet actually just fell into a job with a credit union. Meaning they saw a job classified ad that met their skills and applied not fully understanding what a credit union is or how it is structured.
That's how I came to work in credit unions. I applied for a bookkeeping/office assistant job at a small credit union with 1,000 members and $1 million in assets. I was very fortunate to have a boss that believed in the structure of the organization and never missed an opportunity to teach me about the essence of credit unions.
After seven years working in credit unions and at my fourth credit union, I attended the Credit Union Development Education (CUDE) program. It was after this experience that I wrote the following:
Essence of Credit Unions - (1995)
The gleam in an old man's eye
The sound of a new baby's cry
The concern for members' need
Which plants the seeds
Of hope and desire for brighter days ahead
A comforting place, many have said
For help, for guidance throughout the year
Credit unions lend a sympathetic ear
Not the buildings in which they reside
But in the hearts and souls of those inside
In a college course, you will not find
This type of commitment to mankind
Judge instead to which degree
The promise your employees decree
The love of people is the key
To the success of what a credit union should be
Credit unions are and will always stay
A system of members in every way.
I am amazed everyday by the people that work within this movement and the job they do for people who need a financial institution that will work for them, not a paid board of directors or stockholders. For those best at it, working in a credit unions is a calling.
