A message from the Chair

Joseph Brancucci - CUNA Lending Council
July 22, 2005

A few weeks ago I sent each of you a letter asking for your support of the CUNA Lending Council Scholarship Fund. I was reminded of this last night at home as I was writing out checks and came across my letter to myself. I have been asking our partners and credit unions for donations, and I have asked you to personally contribute – so I filled out and mailed my personal donation to the fund.

This morning I came in and looked at the updated sheet and was excited to see a number of personal donations being made to the fund. They came from CEOs as well as lending professionals – and knowing a number of the personalities, they came from the heart.

Well our Scholarship Fund is designed to make sure that future generations of lenders always have adequate education so they can become lending professionals. I have been fortunate to be at a credit union for ten years that has the resources to make sure that the lending staff always has access to current information, as most of you are as well. However, a number of credit unions, in fact, the majority in numbers, are not able to afford even the most basic of lending education for survival. The stories that the scholarship committee read with each request reinforces our resolve to make sure of our success. One follows this article as an example of what the scholarship fund does.

I would strongly encourage you to make a donation, the amount is not important, but the commitment is. We are still $690,000 away from goal but if every member were to donate what they can we would be that much closer to our goal.

Thanks for your support…and spread the word.

Joe