ESM-NS FCU Teaches Kids How to Hold on to Their Money

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Six-year-old Cara Miller learned a profitable lesson last week when she grabbed $67 in wind-blown cash during ESM-NS FCU’s ‘Bank at School’ promotion. The Fremont Elementary School first-grader caught hold of the currency in the wind-blown cash vault, an attempt to illustrate part of the school’s and the credit union’s efforts to teach good savings habits, or ‘how to hold on to your money.’ More than 75 elementary students participated in the program developed by the $55 million credit union. Students who opened new accounts or made deposits during Bank at School Days in November and December were entered into a drawing for a chance for cash in the portable vault. The vault was loaded with $300. Miller, wearing safety glasses and an apron, stepped into the vault set up in the school’s gym, and clutched as much flying cash as she could while classmates looked on and cheered. Before the event took place, Miller practiced using hair dryers, fans and play money. After Cara grabbed the $67, Bill Sweeney, president of the credit union, bumped it up to $75–to teach the kids about interest. When the first-grader told him she planned to donate half the wind-fall to the local charity, the credit union executive doubled her catch to $150–so she could keep the $75 she had cornered on her own.