AROOSTOOK COUNTY — NorState Federal Credit Union held a full week of free workshops for both young and not-so-young members, which were open to the public.
“Going out into our communities to provide financial literacy has been a goal for us since 2009. I’m so proud to state that we are now starting to partner with local groups and organizations to provide financial literacy for all life stages. Whether it’s learning about savings for our youngsters or identity theft prevention workshops to Social Security informational sessions for our seniors to retirement planning seminars or the importance of credit scores for our youth, we have so many great programs that may be beneficial to community organizations,” said Denise Cote, financial literacy coordinator for NorState.
“We encourage any group who may have a need for a public speaker at their function or believe that it would be beneficial for their group or organization to have an educational financial presentation created for a specific need or interest, to contact Cote,” said Stephen Gagne, vice president, branch administration.
International Credit Union Day was Thursday, Oct. 21. NorState FCU had a full calendar of financial literacy to commemorate this day with daily workshops throughout the week, Oct. 18-22.
A powerful workshop titled “Deter-Detect-Defend: How to protect against Identity Theft” was presented throughout the St. John Valley during that week, offered free to the public. Another presentation will take place at the Fort Kent Senior Center, quarterly meeting, on Thursday Oct. 28, at 1 p.m.
Other workshops that were open to the public during the week included a Social Security Information Facts/Questions/Answers at the NorState FCU Presque Isle office on Oct. 18.
NorState FCU is also offered closed workshops to juniors and seniors of FKCHS on Oct. 20, educating youth on the importance of building and maintaining a healthy credit score; the pitfalls of credit cards; the ins and outs of lending and the convenience of online banking. Tours for elementary school students in Eagle Lake were held on Friday.
A bake sale with all proceeds to help benefit the Ending Hunger in Maine campaign at the Madawaska and Fort Kent locations were held on Oct. 21. All proceeds stay local.
“Our highlight of the week was an open house on Thursday, Oct. 21, at all of our locations: Madawaska, Fort Kent, Eagle Lake, Ashland, Van Buren and Presque Isle, to celebrate the first anniversary of our newest branch, Presque Isle,” said Gagne.
This week-long celebration of credit unions encouraged members and the general public to participate in a people-helping-people philosophy.
“We invite anyone to come in and join our not-for-profit cooperative, where members are the owners,” said Gagne.
