EL PASO, Texas – Two families who proved themselves over 11 months of saving, budgeting and paying off debt received $10,000 each Tuesday night as winners of Government Employees CU’s Savings Challenge.
Four other participating families were recognized with $2,500 awards, in the second annual savings contest.
The winning families were:
The Huse family; consisting of father Keith, a self-employed carpenter; mother Christine, a teacher at Brown Middle School; and their two children, Gavin, 11, and Buzz 7, who paid off more than $26,000 in debt and saved about $8,900.
The Ortiz family; which consists of husband Peter, who was laid off from his job as an avionics technician at Biggs Army Airfield but was rehired later in the year; wife Araceli, a legal secretary; and children, Alice, 6, and Anel 3.
The contest was judged by an El Paso accounting firm, Lauterbach, Borschow & Co., which determined which families did the best job of meeting their goals.
GECU gave out a total of $30,000 to six families in 2007, the first year of the contest.
The credit union will start a third year of the Savings Challenge in January by having six college students compete for a $10,000 prize, while the others will get $2,500 each for participating.
