AROOSTOOK COUNTY, Maine — An effort to teach youngsters to save and be charitable at the same time united second-graders from around The County.
Last fall, during International Credit Union Week in October, NorState Federal Credit Union invited elementary second-grade classrooms around The County to take an educational tour of its facilities in Madawaska, Van Buren, Eagle Lake, Ashland, Fort Kent and Presque Isle to learn how money is saved and how transactions are done, and the ins and outs of daily operations at a credit union.
During the tours, each student went home with a gym bag and a classroom savings bank. NorState challenged each classroom teacher and students to save their spare change throughout the winter months and raise money for Special Olympics of Maine. They had until credit unions’ Youth Month, which occurs through April, to contribute.
Through the following months, some teachers requested financial literacy visits by the credit union to help educate their students about the importance of saving, spending and sharing.
To bring to a close a month-long celebration themed “The future is yours, picture it, save for it, share it,” NorState FCU revisited each classroom, presented a “mini” financial literacy lesson about saving, spending and giving, and gave each student a bank to bring home. The banks contained individual compartments in which to deposit coins, labeled SAVE, SPEND, GIVE, in hopes that they continue learning about saving money, how to responsibly spend on needs versus wants and how to be charitable as well.
When the second graders pooled their classroom bank savings, they had collected a little over $350 to donate to Special Olympics. NorState matched a portion of their savings, as promised, to bring the total donation to $600.
The top fundraising class was Mrs. Hedou’s class at Madawaska Elementary School with a total of $70.93.
Participating classrooms included Madawaska Elementary, Dr. Levesque’s in Frenchville, Fort Kent Elementary, Pine Street Elementary in Presque Isle, Easton Elementary, Van Buren Elementary and Ashland District School.
Schools who wish to have financial education instructions or presentations for any grade level may contact the marketing department at NorState, 1 (800) 804-7555.
