AROOSTOOK COUNTY, Maine — Local students recently made good on a promised donation to Special Olympics as they learned to save money, spend wisely and give to a worthy cause.
Last fall, during International Credit Union week in October, County second-grade classrooms were invited to take an educational tour of NorState Federal Credit Union facilities in Madawaska, Van Buren, Eagle Lake, Ashland, Fort Kent and Presque Isle to learn how people save money and conduct bank transactions, and the ins and outs of a financial institution.
During the tours, each student went home with a financial activity book for their age group, a credit union token and a classroom savings bank. NorState challenged each classroom teacher and their students to save their spare change throughout the winter months and raise money for Special Olympics of Maine until credit unions’ Youth Month in April.
To bring to a close a month-long celebration themed the Science of Savings, NorState FCU revisited each classroom and presented a “mini” financial literacy lesson about saving, spending and giving. Each student received a bank to take home that featured individual coin compartments labeled “Save,” “Spend” and “Give,” in hopes that they continue learning about saving money, how to responsibly spend on needs versus wants, and how to be charitable as well.
The second-graders donated their classroom bank savings and pooled them all together for a donation to Special Olympics; they collected more than $178.
Sharlet Bishop’s students at Pine Street Elementary School in Presque Isle raised $41.59 in spare change, making them the top grossing class.
The credit union matched a portion of their savings, as promised, for a total gift to Special Olympics of $324.
Along with Pine Street, classrooms participated from Madawaska Elementary, Dr. Levesque in Frenchville, Fort Kent Elementary, Easton Elementary, Van Buren Elementary and Ashland District School.
