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Youth Initiatives
Youth Week 2009 Success Stories
| SOUTH CAROLINA |
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SC Telco Federal CU Melody C. Aleman
We had a great time celebrating Youth Month and Youth Week! Youth had an opportunity to win some great prizes including books and VISA gift cards. Grand prizes were a Leap Frog ClickStart-My First Computer for ages 5 and under, an Xbox 360 Arcade for ages 6-12, and Apple iPod Touch for ages 13-17.
Each youth member who made a deposit or opened an account during the month was registered to win a prize. When they made a deposit or opened an account during Youth Week they received a “Magic of Saving” T-shirt. All employees were given a T-shirt to wear every Friday during the month of April. Many of our branches held activities during Youth Week including magic shows, face painting, pizza parties, a rabbit hunt, and tours of fire engines and police cars. Can’t wait until next year!
| TEXAS |
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A+ Federal CU Dawn M. Ambuehl-Sadek
A+FCU hosted a Youth Savings Challenge of our own for our youth members. Two winners were drawn – one child under the age of 12 (Green Apple Club member) and one between the ages of 13-19 (Club Clix member) – for the highest increase in savings during the month of April. The winners received a $250 VISA gift card.
Alexa, 17, inherited a sum of money from her grandfather after the company he had invested in for her was sold and the stock was forced to sell. Alexa’s mom was so proud of her when she decided to save the money rather than spend it. Alexa learned several valuable lessons from the experience including the stock market, taxation, and the importance of saving. We are very proud of Alexa’s decision and were pleased to award her the $250 prize for the 2009 A+ Youth Savings Challenge.
American Airlines Federal CU Lois August
I am having fun with April Financial Literacy Month Youth Challenge and I think people are getting more involved. I thought I would share some of the things the American Airlines Federal Credit Union is doing for both youth and their parents.
“The Magic of Saving at the Credit Union” promotion took effect on April 1st and ran through April 30th. All young member- owners were encouraged to visit their local branch for celebrations, make deposits into their share-savings accounts, and enter for a chance to win one of 10 randomly selected $100 cash award deposits.
April 13, 2009 was Credit Education’s Free Q & A Day. All Credit Education Department Certified Financial Counselors were available on the telephone lines to answer general questions for our members.
Members received e-mails on financial literacy topics every week. We held required information training for employees on budgeting, credit reports and managing credit.
We held a family night with seminars for everyone:
Ages 2-12. This seminar will occupy the youngest generation with supervised financial activities, games and prizes. Have
piece of mind knowing your children are safe and having fun while you attend your seminar.
Ages 13-21. “Mad City Money”. This seminar is an interactive simulation that gives young adults a taste of the real
world—complete with occupation, salary, spouse, student loan debt, credit card debt, and medical insurance payments.
Attendees of this seminar will be entered into a drawing for one of two $25 iTunes gift cards.
Ages 22+. “Managing Your Family’s Credit”. This seminar will teach you how to read and understand your credit reports
and scores. We will discuss in length what a credit report is made up of and how they impact you as a consumer. It
will also include the basics on teaching your children about credit. Attendees of this seminar will be entered into
a drawing for $25 restaurant gift cards.
GENCO Federal CU Charli Phillips
GENCO Federal Credit Union had a great time celebrating Youth Week this year. Our activities included:
Coloring contest for ages 0-17. Children could pick up a Youth Week coloring sheet at any GENCO branch. We divided contest entrees into three separate age groups for fair judging. Ages 0-6 colored the official “Magic of Saving” genie coloring sheet, while ages 7-12 and 13-17 were encouraged to illustrate what they are saving for and how much time/money it would take to reach their savings goals. Branches selected their own contest winners for each age group and awarded McDonald’s gift cards. Kids who made deposits during Youth Week were invited to select a prize (fun trinket or candy) from our “magic hats” displayed along our lobby teller lines. The hats had paper money attached to the inner rim to give a “money flying out of the hat” effect.
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Kids could also guess the cash in our money jars – a single jar of cash displayed on each lobby teller line – whenever they made a deposit into their own savings account during Youth Week. (No parent guesses allowed)! Whoever guessed the closest or “right on the money” won the jar of cash.
All five GENCO branches participated in Youth Week and encouraged visitors and members 17 and under to register for the Youth Saving Challenge. Some had special tables and other displays set up, encouraging kids to save. We had 83 kids register for the challenge.
Our staff really got into youth week. One branch even made their own t-shirts (see attached photo) and went all out with their lobby decorations. Another branch wore stickers that said “I’m saving up so I can buy ________” and also gave these stickers out to kids. We made handouts that listed tips for parents on teaching kids how to save (by age), as well as recommendations for educational websites, TV shows for kids to learn more about the needs and benefits of saving money.
We hope our Youth Week activities were as much fun for our members and visitors as they were for our staff, and we hope we made an impact on both kids and parents to save, save, save!
| VIRGINIA |
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Belvior Federal CU Bonnie Andresakes
Belvoir gave out magic fortune teller balls to youth members making a deposit into their youth savings account. In addition, Belvoir sponsored a Magic of Saving poster contest and awarded deposits in a youth certificate account to two students at Montclair Elementary School; one student at Woodbridge Middle School; and one student each at Woodbridge and Gar- Field Senior High Schools.
See Belvior news release.
| WASHINGTON |
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GaPac Community Federal CU Lynda Weber Ferry
We sponsored a magic of saving show performed by magician Sterling Dietz, age 17, and world teen champion. Close to 300 kids attended the evening event at the Bellingham Boys & Girls Club during National Youth Week. Before the show, we served hotdogs, chips and juice to appreciative kids and parents, and later gave them CUNA’s large $100 bill (which was also a hit), magic tattoos and Sterling’s magic of saving souvenir posters. One of our employees did the introductions and spoke briefly to the excited kids, about the importance of leaning to save when they are young. This year’s magical theme was so easy to work with, plus a lot of fun. We gave Magic 8-Balls to new youth members. It’s great to hear it was a success for so many CUs through out the country.
| WISCONSIN |
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Horizon Community CU Alice Erieau
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We had a magician come to Horizon’s Voyager branch in Green Bay and do magic for an hour for the kids during Youth Week. We did a special mailing to all kids club members (anyone under age 12) which included the events below. The staff was very excited this year!
- Coloring Drawing—Color the enclosed “Magic of Saving” picture and bring it to HCCU to be entered to win a paintable piggy bank.
- Kash for Kids--$5 deposit coupon to any child who refers a news member under age 18 during April.
- Treasure Chest—Every child that deposits $5 or more gets to pick a prize from the treasure chest.
PCM Employees CU Sue Richardson
PCMCU held a month long event and gave away iPod Shuffles, PCMCU gift cards, and other savings rewards to our youth members as a savings incentive.
We transformed our lobby into a magical experience for our young ones! Thanks for doing a great job with the Youth Week campaign!
Prime Financial CU Debra L. Tomich
When young members make a deposit to their PFCU savings account, they were automatically enrolled in the National Youth Savings Challenge™ and eligible to win $100.00. Our Lil’ Savers were encouraged to enter a coloring contest and our Prime Time Teens, an essay writing contest. As an incentive, winning entries had $20.00 deposited to their saving accounts. “The event was considered a focal point for teaching young people the benefits of saving and goal setting.
See Prime Financial news release.
Sentry CU Sharen Repinski
To celebrate National Youth Week, Sentry Credit Union offered several activities for our youth members: The youth who came closest to guessing how many pennies in a star bank had $25.00 deposited to their savings account. A word search offered a Belts Buck, (Belts is a local ice cream establishment), to youth who circled the words and returned it to SCU. What our young members really seemed to like was the basket raffle. Six baskets with themes like “Popcorn and a Movie,” “Fun in the Sun,” and “Bubbles Galore” were raffled off. We encouraged young members to decorate a coloring page and return it to be displayed in the lobby. “The Magic of Saving” temporary tattoos were also given away.
