WOODBURY, Minn.–Ideal Credit Union is reporting it saw a surge in participation after turning its annual member/community appreciation event into a virtual two-week celebration.
According to Ideal, the CU saw an 89% increase in adult registrants from 35 states and a 52% increase in youth registrants from seven states, all enrolling online for chance to win cash prizes. In all, the credit union gave away 10 $500 grand prizes, five $250 grand prizes and 1- $50 Bucky Bear youth prizes for a total of $6,750 to 25 lucky winners.
It also donated another $3,000 to local area food shelves in the communities the credit union serves.
The virtual events started with a video welcome from each respective Ideal CU branch manager. At noon, Ideal made a donation via Facebook Live to representatives from five local area food shelves. At 12:30 p.m., branch managers announced the cash prize winners for that day’s event on Facebook and shared the videos on its website.
Ideal said it saw a 5.50% increase in Facebook likes during the virtual event. Website traffic also increased on the event landing page.
One of the lucky $500 cash prizes winners was Meagan Peterson, whom Ideal said was watching the Hugo, Minn., event on August 11 via Facebook Live and immediately shared her excitement on the social media channel about being selected. She plans to use the winnings toward a down payment on a house.
A week later, Peterson’s mom, Susan Peterson, was selected at random as a $250 winner during the August 19 Woodbury, Minn., celebration. Susan plans to put her winnings toward a family vacation next year.
Other Winners
The credit union reported Brian Nickell, another $500 cash prize winner from the Hugo event, will spend part of his winnings on new tires for his Tahoe. The rest will go toward a trip to Hawaii. Michael McHenry, who won $500 at the Woodbury event, shared that he is currently unemployed due to COVID-19 and planned to use the money to take his wife to dinner, the credit union reported.
Eunice Bliss, a $500 winner from the August 20 Stillwater event, shared that she chose Ideal because she was tired of dealing with banks and high fees. She will put the money toward a trip she is planning for Thanksgiving, Ideal CU said.
Important to Give Back
“We really enjoy our annual Community Events and didn’t want to cancel or postpone the celebration, so we got creative in how we transitioned the events to a virtual format without missing any of the fun” said Ideal CU President/CEO Brian Sherrick. “We were able to keep everyone safe, give away some cash and most importantly give back to our local communities. I would like to thank everyone involved for making this virtual celebration a tremendous success.”