Whether it’s Star Wars Day on May 4th or International Cat Day on 8th August, it seems like every day has become dedicated to something – but for over 70 years, the third Thursday of October has been celebrated as International Credit Union (ICU) Day. To mark the day the team at Metro Moneywise has been out celebrating and spreading awareness.
What is ICU Day?
Established back in 1948, ICU Day has a number of aims:
- Raise awareness of credit unions
- Promote their successes
- Celebrate our rich history
- Share experiences from members
Above all else, it’s to promote the credit union movement across the world.
Today, there are over 57,000 credit unions across 103 countries, serving more than 208 million members. That’s 208 million people benefitting from affordable credit from organisations that are run for members, not for profit.
Celebrating ICU Day 2019
At Metro Moneywise Credit Union, we certainly think that’s worth celebrating – not least because the co-operative movement began in our hometown of Rochdale!
As well as celebrating the day here in Rochdale we are also sharing the day with our fellow international credit unions. While on the Credit Union Development Educators course our Loans Officer Alex struck up a friendship with Florence from NACCUG, the affiliate organisation for credit unions in the Gambia. Alex was inspired by the role credit unions play in the lives of people in the Gambia, where credit union membership can be the difference between life and death due to the high cost of medical bills.
Florence also described how credit union members in the Gambia will walk for miles just to reach their nearest credit union. So today to mark ICU Day 2019 we are walking in solidarity with our fellow Gambian credit unions members by walking round Rochdale’s very own (and very beautiful) Hollingworth Lake.
Over to you
Sharing experiences of credit unions is an integral part of ICU Day, so whether you’re a member of Metro Moneywise or another credit union, we’d love to hear how credit unions have helped you.
Let us know in the comments on our Facebook or Twitter pages.