admin
This week, a check presentation at the Alabama Advocacy Conference by YP Katrina Lovett from APCO Employees CU marked the culmination of fundraising efforts by LSCU YPs in Alabama, Florida and Georgia young people. The Advocacy chairs of the LSCU YP Coordinating Council, Michael Poucher of First Commerce CU and Ryan Hesser of VyStar Credit Union, wanted to come up with a YPG-wide project to raise funds and awareness for credit union advocacy while raising awareness for the Young Professionals Group.
They decided to create a YP lapel pin to sell with proceeds going to LSCU FedPAC. The Coordinating Council, along with a little help from LSCU, personally funded the production of the pins.
“Ryan and myself really wanted to ensure as Advocacy Chairs we had a strong focus on awareness around grassroots advocacy as well as understanding the importance of PAC contributions,” said Michael. “As we know, credit unions are experts in collaboration and not reinventing the wheel when appropriate. With that in mind the council decided to mirror LSCU PAC lapel pins while recognizing all the future leaders of the credit union movement. We did this by utilizing the “YP” logo as our design. We are thrilled with all the support and participation we have received from everyone since rolling this initiative. We are all very excited to see where this goes from here.”
They officially launched the pin sales at the YP Think Tank in November, easily hitting $1,500 in sales. From there, individual YP Chapters sold pins to their membership and to supporters at their credit unions.
To date, they have raised $2,600 for LSCU FedPAC through pin sales, which Katrina presented at the opening luncheon of the Alabama Advocacy Conference. Michael made a similar presentation in Florida.
“This YP Pin fundraiser definitely made an impact for me from the standpoint of, this was not about one individual or one Individual credit union,” said Katrina. “This is about credit unions working together whether you’re in Alabama, Florida, or Georgia for one common goal: to build credit union awareness and do what’s best for the credit union movement as a whole. I think we accomplished that with the sale of these pins.”
Having built momentum behind the fundraiser, sales are expected to continue in 2020 with equal or greater success.
“The LSCU YPG is an impressive group of individuals,” said Jordan Burroughs, vice president of member engagement for the LSCU. “To take initiative and come together to make an impact on the future of our industry is what the credit union movement is all about. I have a feeling this isn’t the last time we’ll hear of the incredible accomplishments of these young people when they put their minds together.”
