Montana's Credit Unions Challenges Community to 2017 Hours of Volunteering

Press release

Montana’s Credit Unions announced a Keep the Change, Give Your Time initiative in honor of International Credit Union Day on Oct. 19.

The initiative encourages the community, credit union staff, and members to give 2,017 hours of service to their community during the first 19 days of October by volunteering. The spirit of this initiative is to invest in Montana through residents giving their time to deserving projects and to spread awareness of the cooperative principles of credit unions throughout Montana.

Karen Smith, VP of advocacy at Montana’s Credit Unions, said she is hoping to see locals come together through this campaign.

“Our goal for this initiative is to encourage Montanans to spend more time in their communities, giving back and getting to know each other,” Smith said. “One of the core principles of the credit union movement is to have concern for the communities they serve, so we felt that a call for Montana to volunteer was fitting as a celebration of International Credit Union Day, which is on Oct. 19. I am confident that if we work together, we will reach or even surpass our goal of 2,017 hours of service for Montana and I’m excited to see how locals come together in a cooperative spirit to make this happen.”

Montanans can participate in this program by volunteering in any way — be it mowing the lawn, babysitting, coordinating an event, or helping at a school, hospital or library. After volunteering, individuals should log their hours on the Give Your Time website at http://www.mcun.coop/givingtime so they count toward the goal of 2,017 hours of service.

Credit unions across the state will be planning service opportunities for their staff, members, and local community to participate in.

The progress of the hours logged can be tracked on the initiative’s website and Montana’s Credit Unions will tally the grand total of community service hours for the campaign on October . Volunteers are also asked to share photos of their experiences on Facebook, or on Instagram and Twitter using the tag #MTGivesBack.