Month: October 2024

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A Farming Town’s Fall Market

Fall, the time for harvest from the land.  Future Farmers of America’s (FFA) greenhouse in Rensselaer Central High School, Indiana.

“Growers for Life.” Fall mums for sale,  $10 each at the local Saturday farm market.

Pumpkins, the uniquely American fruit. Anything that starts from a flower is botanically a fruit.

Corn, all colors.

Gourds, technically fruits, but realistically fall table decoration.

An enormous sunflower head-a seed bank.

To Autumn by John Keats (1795-1821)

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
  Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
  With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
  And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
    To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
  With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
    For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

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Several Explanations for Credit Union Mergers

While there are almost daily familiar rhetorical press releases  announcing new merger intentions, actual causal motivations are rarely plainly stated.

Descriptions from other areas of economic activity  provides some of the reasons for this ever increasing aspect of cooperative evolution.

CEO’s love unjust gain because money is their highest trust.

There’s nothing wrong with actively working (read: contributing actual value to others) and making a good living from it, but it’s wrong to turn a profit off the time, talent, effort, and creativity of others simply because you wield a capital advantage over them.

Where nothing is forbidden, nothing is required.

Executives are absolutely at a loss of what might happen if they stopped exploiting a gain off of others.

And the ultimate outcome for the member owners:

The chasm between credit union’s design and individual member benefit gets wider and wider.

 

 

 

 

 

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From the Field: Credit Unions Empowering Members and Communities

A critical distinction of the cooperative model is its local advantage.  News commentators assert “all politics is local.”  Military leaders call this capacity “boots on the ground.”  Credit unions described this organizing concept as their field of membership.

When events and institutions affect where and how one lives, that makes their impact personal for individuals.  The capability of credit unions to be seen as a long standing participant of the community they serve, creates generations of loyalty. And in the examples below, superior performance.

Member Feedback at Day Air Credit Union, Dayton Ohio

As part of the net promoter score process, the credit union invites member comments on their experience.  Here are two member notes the CEO recently shared with his team:

Reenetry

1.Day Air Credit Union met me where I was in my walk after being a returning citizen through the Montgomery County reentry community. I was full of fear and didn’t know anything about handling finances or money or getting to where I needed to be in order to be able to get loans and start a business.

Day Air Credit Union along with several individuals from the Montgomery County reentry community helped me succeed in my walk and in my business. Thank you so very much.

Don’t Sell Out

2.You guys help me through a situation, that even though you knew how I got there, you knew it wasn’t my fault (100% my fault) … You guys knew it was technically fraud against me. You did not have to help me, but you did, so that deserves a 10 in my book.

It shows the character of the people in your organization. You guys really are there for your members, it’s kind of like what families and friends are supposed to be, no judgment just being there when someone needs them to be and just doing the right thing. even if that right thing is to just be there to listen about someone’s life that has turned into a freaking dumpster fire… really you guys have been great. You’ve got a customer for life. Unless you sellout; other than that, a 10 in my book.

Through August 2024, the $847 million Day Air reports an ROA of 1.47%, share growth of 7.54%, net worth of 13% and an operating expense/asset ratio of 2.43%.

Creating a Statewide Collection Effort for Food Banks

The following is a release from First Harvest  describing a New Jersey wide effort in which  credit unions will collect canned food donations for local food banks.  This ad hoc network effort relies on the dozens of local branches as drop off and collection centers.   Another example of the advantage of a local presence and personal interaction with members.

First Harvest Credit Union, Affinity Federal Credit Union, and EdiFi Credit Union have come together to launch the New Jersey Credit Unions Food Cooperative and have engaged 27 New Jersey credit unions to participate in the initiative and help address the growing hunger crisis in New Jersey.

All participating credit unions and their select branches will serve as collection locations, allowing for broader geographic coverage across New Jersey, which will support dozens of food pantries and organizations throughout the state.

The program runs from October 1 through November

To donate, credit union members and residents throughout New Jersey can find a participating credit union listed below, and its nearest branch to drop off non-perishable food items. Each credit union branch will directly support a food pantry or organization within the community it serves. 

First Harvest President & CEO Mike Dinneen notes: “As credit unions, we are always stronger when we partner together. New Jersey has over 130 credit unions, serving a wide variety of rural, urban and suburban communities. One thing that is consistent is the food and affordability crisis that is impacting all of our residents.

Credit unions have an inherent mission and proven ability to take the reins when there is a need to help those who are underserved or in need, and I am proud to stand with these amazing New Jersey credit union leaders and implement this important member-driven mission.”

 The twenty-seven participating credit unions are then listed.  Local matters. That is how most of us ground our lives and cooperate with others in community.