I recently had the privilege of attending the American Association of Credit Union Leagues (AACUL) annual meeting alongside Robin Larsen, President/CEO of Cobalt FCU who is the chair of your League’s Board of Directors. Robin and I were joined by hundreds of fellow credit union leaders from across the United States representing their respective credit unions and state leagues. We were joined by America’s Credit Unions as well as industry partners including TruStage.
I departed the conference encouraged and inspired by the bond that our national credit union system shares between credit unions, state leagues, America’s Credit Unions (ACU), and AACUL. Despite our individuality, we remain a unified collective of people and organizations that share a common purpose of bolstering credit unions for the greater good of our communities. Over my twenty years with the League, I have witnessed the collaborative spirit of Nebraska’s credit unions and their willingness to help each other in varying ways. In recent weeks, I have witnessed several credit unions volunteer their expertise as a resource for another credit union. The phrase that is “neighbor helping neighbor” isn’t just a tag line or convenient phrase in Nebraska, it’s being practiced. When I think of the necessity of solidarity in our credit union system, I can’t help but think of the quote credited to Benjamin Franklin during the signing of the Declaration of Independence where he said, “we must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately”. His statement was made during a time of grave circumstance, but I think there is value in that idea that we, the credit unions system, is best served in solidarity.
The formation of credit unions in the U.S. increased while the country was in the throes of the Great Depression and resulted in the passage of the Federal Credit Union Act in 1934. However, even before that, our forebears were advocating in states passing enabling legislation for the chartering of credit unions. This is to say that advocacy with a purpose is in our blood and has always been. It is through our unified system that we passed landmark legislation and subsequent achievements. Unyielding passion is abundant when we are shoulder-to-shoulder fighting for greater good in the service of others and it is in credit unions that we find such passion.
Solidarity among credit unions, state leagues, AACUL, and ACU has and will continue to bring forth impact and growth for our beloved credit union system. Each of us and our organizations, although unique in our own right, are the patches pieced together completing this beautiful quilt known as the credit union system.
Sincerely,
Brandon Luetkenhaus
President/CEO
Nebraska Credit Union League
