ATLANTA – The Georgia Credit Union Association has released its 2020 Helping People Afford Life (PAL) stories book, highlighting some of the notable ways Georgia credit unions helped their members afford life over the past year.
“Credit unions are relevant today because there is not another type of financial institution geared toward helping people,” the 2020 HPAL booklet states in its introduction. “With a member-owned, not-for-profit structure, credit unions aim to do exactly that. While banks are designed so customers deliver profits to third-party shareholders, credit unions are designed to help people afford life.”
Each year, GCUA, which is now a division of the League of Southeastern Credit Unions & Affiliates, asks Georgia credit unions to submit stories that best illustrate how the credit union has helped its individual members. The league said it then selects a handful of stories that best illustrate the credit union difference.
This year’s 10-page booklet contains nine stories, “each explaining how a different credit union went above and beyond to help a member toward their unique version of a financially healthy life.”
‘Above and Beyond’
One story included in the book details how Atlanta Postal Credit Union in Atlanta, Ga. helped a mother open a restaurant in memory of the son she’d lost in a car crash – while she juggled the cost of her own recovery from a separate accident.
Other stories come from CDC Federal Credit Union, Combined Employees Credit Union, Credit Union of Georgia, Georgia United Credit Union, Health Center Credit Union, MembersFirst Credit Union, North Georgia Credit Union and Robins Financial Credit Union, GCUA said.
“Credit unions go above and beyond for their members each and every day,” said Maureen Bock, vice president of communications and system development at the League of Southeastern Credit Unions & Affiliates. “We felt it was important to showcase the way these credit unions help Georgians from communities around the state afford life.”