Harry Potter and the entire Hogwarts crew.

1920′s Flappers

Three witches and a devil tempting us with candy.

Snow White, an evil queen, and a few dwarves.

Sleepy.

Doc and Bashful.

A S’more.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Adorable Centerpieces

On Friday, July 29th NWGACU hosted the annual Brown Bag Luncheon held for new educators in the Rome City and Floyd County areas. It was a successful event with Dr. Mike Buck, Chief Academic Officer for the Georgia Department of Education, as our keynote speaker and over 25 door prizes donated from local businesses! There were about 150 people in attendance including principals, administration, school board members, and of course, new teachers. Lunch was provided by the talented duo, Barbara and Ellen, the owners of Two Can Do Catering.

Dr. Mike Buck, photo taken by Daniel Bell of RN-T.

After Dr. Buck spoke, the new teachers as well as the attendees were filled with happy thoughts about the first day of school and an enlightened view about the future of education. The way he spoke about teachers having an effect on almost every child’s life even made me want to become a teacher for a split second. We were so fortunate to host this event this year, as last year we were not able to hold the Brown Bag Luncheon due to the low number of new hires. We hope this is a sign of what is to come of the education field for the coming years.

This week we’ve sent thank you cards, wrote thank you post it notes, and held a thank you reception (that is actually still going on right now)! If you are one of our members and you haven’t dropped by one of our branches today, then you definitely should because we have free cookies and punch! Throughout this thank you week we’ve also had a staff thank you to each other. We’ve been giving each other “high-fives” on our high-five wall! There are so many different ways you can thank someone or show someone you appreciate them. We hope that our members will continue to be loyal to NWGACU as we enter our 51st year anniversary. You know, that is over a half a century old!

 50 Tips in 50 Days

LifestyleTipNo.40: Turn frugality into a game. Instead of force-feeding budgeting tips to yourself, look at this as an adventure. Try to top your own savings each week or compete with a friend. You’ll have fun and save money!

Saying thank you is a valuable life skill that everyone should practice. Whether it’s a simple thank you at the cash register or a long thank you note to someone who has helped you out, the person receiving the thank you will always appreciate it. Not only should people have this skill, but businesses should have it too. At the credit union, we are very grateful for our members and extremely thankful that they are un-banking with us.

This week our entire staff hand-wrote many thank you cards to our most loyal members at the credit union and also wrote thank you on Post-it Notes to display in the lobbies. We’re holding an all-day reception on Thursday, June 23 for members to stop by and grab a sweet treat as we give our thanks. So be sure to stop by on Thursday so we can properly thank you in person.

50 Tips in 50 Days

MoneyTipNo.07: Using eStatements saves trees, de-clutters your mailbox, and costs the credit union less money – which means more money goes back into the credit union for members!

Here’s what we’ve got planned:

• Free photos with Curious George
• The first 100 kids to open their Little Sprouts or Acorn Club account will not only get a free sock monkey, but they’ll also get $25 in their account for free! (Don’t forget to bring your child’s social security card!)
• Games on the lawn (shhh, don’t tell your kids, but they’ll be educational games.)
• Giveaways, fun, and food!

Don’t miss this! It’s open to the community, and it’s just our way of giving back. We’ll be there, rain or shine.

We tried to capture the spirit of our credit union history by creating an event that felt like 1961. We listened to music from the 60′s, ate dinner from the Varsity, watched a slide show of pictures from the past 50 years, held a 60′s costume contest, and decorated with all things vintage.

It was quite the party! After enjoying some delicious food, we heard from our Chairman of the Board, Robert Young. He had great things to say about this past year at the credit union – 2010 really was an outstanding year for NWGACU! President/CEO, Michelle Stricklin also spoke to us about 2010 and what is to come in 2011. It looks to be another great year with new products and services!

Happy 50th anniversary, NWGACU!

NWGACU is 50 this year and we’re celebrating with a throwback to 1961 for the Annual Meeting!

Where: Rome Civic Center

When: Tuesday, February 22 at 6:00 p.m.

In order to make this event special, we’re going to need your help. We are going to showcase pictures of our members from the early 1960s. If you have a picture that you’d like to contribute you can email it to ksmith@nwgacu.org or bring it by either credit union location labeled with a name and address so that we can mail it back to you.

Dinner from The Varsity will be served, so members must pick up tickets to reserve a spot at this year’s meeting. Tickets can be picked up at either credit union location on February 14, 15, or 16.

We’ll be holding a 1961 costume contest for children and adults dressed in their best 1961 outfit. Unbelievable prizes will be awarded to the best dressed kids, family, and couple!

Pick up your tickets next week and we’ll see you there!

Another Halloween has come and gone and 2010 was a fantastic one! We invited our youngest members to dress up in their most creative costumes, eat some Halloween inspired treats, and compete in our costume contest.

As you can see it was a great turn-out and we were so impressed with the creativity!

The winner of the 0-4 age group was the Krispy Kreme doughnut man and 2nd place went to the cutest cowgirl!

The winner of the 5-12 age group was the creative jellyfish and 2nd place went to the witchy witch.

Congratulations to our winners! They will be getting $50 put into their savings account and 2nd place gets $25. We hope they will use it as encouragement to continue to save for their futures!

…Your financial goals seem more like a wish list for your fairy godmother than an actual possibility.

…When you think about your debt, it makes you want to scream like a little girl.

…You wish you could save more (or any) money, but somehow things like eating and keeping the lights on take priority.

… There’s almost always more month than money.

If you’d like some free help with finding solutions, your trusty credit union is here for you. Next week on Tuesday the 19th, as part of our International Credit Union Week events, we’re doing free financial checkups all day long. All you have to do is let us know what time you want to come by. You can post a comment to this post to schedule it, or give us a call at 706.291.9290 or 706.802.0030. We’ll give you a very short Financial Check-Up sheet to complete, give it back to us before Tuesday, and we’ll sit down with you and tell you what solutions we recommend. Don’t worry–we won’t get into investing and other rockstar-eqsue things. We’re talking real money, real people, and real solutions.

If you can’t come on Tuesday, comment or call us anyways! We’ll schedule a time that works better for you, oh Rockstar-To-Be.

Every year we join in on International Credit Union Week to celebrate credit unions and our members. Credit unions are a big deal worth a yearly celebration!

We’ve got some fun stuff to give away as well as some informative events dedicated to financial literacy. Here’s the calendar of events:

Monday, October 18:  Giveaway Day – Stop by either credit union location to receive your free reusable tote while supplies last.

Tuesday, October 19:  Financial Check-Up Day - Sit down with a Financial Services Officer to organize your finances and ask questions about money saving options. Call ahead to schedule your appointment. Redmond Road Office: 706.291.9290 or Dean Avenue Office 706.802.0030

Wednesday, October 20:  Life on a Budget Seminar – Join us  at 12:00 pm in the Etowah Room at the Sara Hightower Library as we discuss living life on a budget for a quick lunchtime seminar. Enjoy pizza for lunch and the opportunity to win prizes! Call Kelly at 706.291.9290 or e-mail at ksmith@nwgacu.org to reserve your spot.  

Thursday, October 21: ‘You’re So Sweet’ Candy Buffet – Stop by either branch office to pick up your gift of sweet treats as we celebrate our sweet members!

Friday, October 22:  Kid’s Club Day – Open a kid’s club account for your little ones and we will pay the first $25 deposit! Little Sprouts: age 0-4  Acorn Club: age 5-12