Andrew McCullum joining me right now from Marine Credit Union and welcome aboard.
Good to see you,
Don.
It's
always good to see me, right?
Yes, absolutely.
I
always tell people it's always good to see me above ground, isn't it?
Because the alternative.
Now, we were talking forward when on the air and you don't like the B word because Marine Credit Union is not a bank.
It's a credit union because the difference
is
Well, hey, not to say I don't like the B word.
No, the banks and credit unions get along nice.
We do this.
We serve people, serve our community.
But when you're a credit union member, you are just that.
You are a member.
You're owner, operator.
You are not a customer.
So I don't like the C word more than the B word.
The customer is not what you are when you belong to Marine Credit Union.
You are a member.
Yeah, it's like
a member credit.
Yeah.
Member
owned and operated.
Yeah.
So if I'm a member of the credit union, I can go in there and start giving orders.
In a kind way.
Make sure you say please and thank you.
No, but yes, you are our stakeholder, right?
You are the key stakeholder.
You can't go on Wall Street by stock in the credit union because you're not a stockholder.
It's not public.
It's like the Packers.
Yeah, you're going on stock in the Packers.
Everybody's an owner.
But you have more, your voice has more ownership than ownership in the Packers.
By
the
way, and we'll mention this now, because you mentioned it before, Marine Credit Union got their start by the Marine Outboard Motor Company.
Yes.
All the employees were...
Start of it.
And is Marine still around?
Marine.
Mercury
Marine.
Yes.
Mercury Marine.
Yes, sir.
They're a huge international, uh, outboard motor producer right in Fond du Lac.
Yeah.
We have a location right across the street from their main hub.
And that's actually where I started as an intern, um, back in 2017.
Yeah.
Look at you.
Well, before that, actually, I want to say in the early thirties, mid thirties, uh, we got our, uh, start actually in
Eau Claire and poster carriers.
We were a credit union for all mail carriers in the Eau Claire area and then teachers credit unions.
So yeah credit unions have a rich history of collaboration and throughout the years through mergers and acquisitions.
They come together to have a deeper support in the communities in which we serve.
What's the difference between other than being a member of the customer at a bank and a credit union?
How is it to say people over profit is that we are people first servant led?
Organizations not to say other organizations aren't but when you belong to a credit union The quote-unquote profits are reinvested not only into directly into the communities that we serve but to the members in which we serve through higher deposit yields or lower interest rates and so Again not to say anything bad about the B word
We get along well.
They have great products as well.
They just serve a different demographic, different audience.
They do different things.
They're more transactional.
And from my experience, credit unions are more relational.
Is that servant led people first approach?
You know, when I was a kid, doing trick or treating, I was a little kid.
And we went into the area of the downtown area where I grew up.
And we went into the stores and I gave candy, went into the bank.
Security Bank, which isn't there anymore.
Security Bank went in and you know what they gave for Halloween?
Nichols.
And this is back in the 60s.
So, I mean, that was, you know, pretty good.
They said trick or treat and they dropped nickels because they said, that's what we do.
We do money.
And they had a jar full of nickels and every kid that came and got a nickel.
That's kind of neat.
Absolutely.
Count your pennies and your dollars will make sense.
Oh, then you had the people on trick or treating on the route that I did.
They let you hear is a penny.
What am I going to do with that?
Take your penny back.
Come on, let's go with the Milky Ways and the Three Musketeers bars.
Keep that penny.
All right, let's talk about some of the activities you guys are involved in at Marine Credit Union.
The Kenosha Kingfish Collaboration.
We'll talk with that first.
Yeah, so it's wild that we're already midway through August.
The summer has flown by.
It's been a fun summer of community impact and events.
The Kingfish are wrapping up their season, but we had a great
year of support and collaboration with them.
They had a great year of on the field, but during their home games, they highlight a specific nonprofit.
They had 36 home games, they had 36 local nonprofits, and as a way to support, we collaborated and did the community connections 50-50 raffles.
So each game, the nonprofits were there.
and selling raffle tickets, and one lucky winner, one half the pot, the other half went directly to said non-profit.
50-50
raffle, yeah.
Yeah, some people don't know, you never know.
But yeah, that was real fun.
And then we also did a fun collaboration where every stolen base by the Kingfish throughout the season would go, money would go into a pot.
And at the end of the year, that pot would then
go support a local nonprofit.
And so we chose to highlight and support our friends at Halo, Inc.
here in Racine.
They do a lot of great work.
And so, so grateful for the partnership between not only Marine Credit Union and the Kingfish, but this was something that our Marine Credit Union Foundation helped support to give back to our community.
There's a car show going on at Marco's Pizza this weekend, and the money goes to Halo, the homeless assistance.
Leadership.
Leadership.
Organization.
There you go.
Exactly.
I was
letting you get there.
I knew you got
it.
I once threw a pitch out.
The opening pitch at a Kingfish game.
I think it was the predecessors of the Kingfish.
And I stood there in the mound and I said, God, just let me get it over the plate.
Please, that's all of it.
Just let me get it over the plate.
I don't care if it's fast.
And I got it over the plate.
But I was nervous because those things can pitch wild and you never know where they're going to go.
Let's talk about the financial education events you got coming up.
Yeah, so if you've listened to our conversations in the past, you know that Marine Credit Union is very big on financial education and empowering our communities.
And we do a lot of free workshops throughout our community.
I'm really grateful for our collaboration with the Racine Public Library.
A couple times a month we
do different workshops on different topics that are important and seasonal.
Last week, we just did one on back to school without breaking the bank.
In September on the 9th here, if you want to mark your calendars from 4pm to 6pm, we will be having a workshop talking about baking essentials for everyday life, not only
tips and tricks, but kind of being aware of the digital landscape that we're in right now and how to stay safe and empowered in your banking practices.
Those are great times where open to the community, no RSVP needed.
We have pizza and good conversation and resources that you can take home and put into your day to day use.
And so, so great to partner with not only the library, but other nonprofits and other employee groups to support
their employees, their clients, and our communities through financial education.
The kids in school still do
banking every week.
Do they do that anymore?
Yeah, it's super exciting here in Wisconsin.
We pass what we would call Act 60.
And essentially, it states that before high school students graduate, they need to take at least one semester of personal finance.
That's something that
recently passed.
But I mean, like when I was in grammar school, we brought in a dollar every week.
and we put it in an envelope and they put it in an account for us.
And that's how you did savings.
You were looking at you put the dollar in every two weeks, whatever it was, and the teacher supposedly took it to the bank and the deposit made the deposits for us.
So I did that as a kid back in the 60s, cut to the 2000s.
My nephew says, you know, your name's in the newspaper in New York.
I said, what for?
I'm long on it.
He said, it's for chemical bank failure, you money.
I said, they owe me, I don't have a bank account with Chemical Bank.
What I didn't know was Chemical Bank bought a bank, bought a bank that bought security bank, which was a small bank where I lived.
And I never got the money out.
For those years, I was putting money in the bank.
It was a kid in school.
I forgot about it.
Nobody remembered it.
So I contacted them and they said, well, send us some ID with the address.
Well, who got the address?
I found my old college ID card.
And I mailed to them, and I said, am I rich?
She goes, no, it's about $75.
I said, all right, send it.
So they sent me a check for $75.
But they printed all the names in the newspaper of all the people they owed money to.
I wouldn't have seen it, but my nephew caught it.
And I got a check for $75.
All those years saving in grammar school.
Look at that.
I don't know if they do that still in today's day and age.
I know that a big theme is having in the middle schools and maybe mostly in high schools and colleges.
having a bank on site where students and teachers can bank or credit union, do their banking services.
You know what, you know what this today, kids are doing day trading in grammar school.
They don't need this.
Yeah, they got the Robin Hood accounts.
Yeah, they're doing
day trading.
The
Roth IRA.
Oh, it just made $60,000 today while I was at lunch.
Yeah.
My guest, and he's here every month, Aaron McCullum from Marine Credit Union.
We're talking about some of the things that community they do, because you're the community lead for.
Or in credit union rights at your title.
Yes, sir leave.
Let's talk about rock the block.
What
is that?
That sounds fun.
Yeah, that was a fun community enrichment project that we supported over the summer with our friends at the youth volunteer center for a week students and other community volunteers went to neighborhoods throughout the city Enrich their neighborhood by doing some landscaping and some yard work and
just given some of the neighborhood a little facelift and it was a real fun opportunity to come together as a team and a community to make our community brighter and more enriched.
So back to school events, huh?
Yeah, it is this season.
I don't know if you guys are ready, but it's coming while they're ready or not.
It's coming, you know.
Yeah, there's a lot of fun community back to school events that are coming up and that have happened already.
So if you are ever looking forward to something to do here this weekend, we do have a family fest in Bell City Square from 10 to 2.
And where's that?
Do you know where the?
Gosh, I'm so bad with directions.
It is on Albert Street where the Inclusive Bean.
Oh, yeah, yeah, I know where it is.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah,
yeah
Yeah.
So that's going to be a fun, uh, family time, a lot of fun games, community resources.
There are also some cool back to school backpack giveaways and resource fairs throughout the whole city.
So, um, the power of Google or just checking out, there's a lot of great resources that are at our fingertips.
And, um,
yeah, be honest when you were a kid, were you excited to go back to school?
Uh, was I excited?
I was excited to have like the, the first week where you got like the new
Um, outfits, you know, we, we never, we got maybe one or two brand new outfits.
That's my mother did too.
All new shirts and pants.
And then the rest was the Goodwill special.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
I still live by that today, but it was always fun.
Like that first week, you're like, I, I'm, I'm dressing to the tens here.
I
wasn't excited.
They just kind of said, all right, nothing I can do about it.
Let's go to school.
Okay.
Let's talk about the, um, Wisconsin Humane Society pet walk.
Yes.
Earlier this summer, we supported-
I had
Angela Speed up from the Wisconsin Humane Society on the ear talking about that.
It was good.
Oh, really?
Look at that.
I love that.
Yeah.
This is always a fun event over the summer, supporting animals and our furry friends in our community.
This was our first year.
I think that it rained, but we didn't let the rain slow down our shine and our fun.
It was a great time.
Funny because my daughter, uh, who's eight, she came and wanted to join the fun and she wanted to bring our dog Franklin, who's a Beagle.
So.
Oh, I love Beagles.
Yes.
He's had five of them.
Yeah.
Oh, they're a good time.
And he, uh, he did not, he wasn't as enthused with the rain, but he still had a good time.
It was so fun.
It was literally downpour.
My daughter's helping me set up our MCU tent.
And she goes, dad, this is so fun.
I can't wait to do this again.
And so.
Yeah, it was so great to connect with our community and actually met one of the WRJ listeners who came and said, hey, I heard you talk about this with Don.
Our one listener, good.
It's National Radio Day, so I feel honored to spend the morning here with you.
Let's talk about the Carnival, the Racine County Community Carnival.
What was that about?
That was a fun collaboration, kind of, again, back to school themes here.
fun family event that we did last weekend in collaboration with Racine County Foster Care, Grace Church, and a number of other wonderful organizations.
It was carnival themed for students to just have fun, right before the school year gets started.
Again, we didn't let the rain slow down our fun.
We had the fun indoors, everyone was dry, everyone was safe, and they had a great time.
Boy, you want to see dogs run for their lives, one crack of thunder, and they start running for the closets under the bed, hiding in the corners.
I just thought about that, I don't know why.
Partnership with Sal Freelick, what's that about?
Yeah, so one thing we hear at the Credit Union are very passionate is we are passionately giving back to our community, and we are passionate about doing good work within our community.
And so this year, I'm really excited to share that we have
partnered with the Brewers Gold Glove winner, Sal Freilich, who is a nominee for what they call the Roberto Clemente Award.
And that's an award given back to a professional baseball player who exemplifies not only on the field, but off the field in their community enrichment efforts.
He died in
the plane crash trying to help.
Roberto Clemente, one of the greatest right-fingers of all time.
It's such an honor that we get a chance to partner with him.
We're going to be doing a lot of community give back here this summer and coming up here in the home stretch.
And this is our second year supporting other Roberto Clemente winners last year.
We partnered with Freddie Peralta and now he's in Tampa Bay.
And so this year we're supporting and partnering with Sal.
So, so grateful for his partnership and all that he does in the communities.
Okay.
Family Fest, August 22nd, which is coming up in
two days.
Two days, yes.
That's what we talked about.
Bell City Square.
Again, that's going to be a fun family event.
Is that the one by Inclusive Bean?
Inclusive Bean here in Leeds, Delhi.
Come by, see us and have some fun, free fun for everyone.
Now, we have people here from the Racine Public Library every month.
Excuse me.
And we're starting again in a few weeks with, actually in next week.
The library workshop, Banking Essentials for Everyday Life, coming up September 9th.
Here's what we're talking about September.
September 9th.
Yes, it's wild that September's right around the corner.
But yes, if you or someone you know may be interested in some fund-free financial education workshops, we do that every month.
So we have one on September 9th, as well as the 29th.
That one will be talking about successful renting and home ownership.
Yeah, bring a friend.
Let's have a great time, 4 p.m.
to 6 p.m.
You can follow me on Facebook, Aaron McCullough Marine Credit Union, or you can go visit our website, marinescu.com, where we have a calendar of some of the community events that we're going to be doing, some of the workshops that we're going to be doing.
And if you want to continue the conversation, please don't hesitate to reach out.
You know, I deal with four errands now.
Three of two of the errands are in this company an hour in a church I view with every week and you what who knew that was gonna be the most common name I was dealing with Aaron the core four of errands Okay, and you're
always
number four and you're always front of the lit now you number one
You're always
front of the list because you got two ways.
Oh, okay.
You always come
out first on the
list a run.
Well, I feel so honored and appreciate it to be here, you know, it's just so great to have these conversations each month and if if
you're wondering who Marine Credit Union is, what we do.
At the end of the day, we're committed to being more than a financial institution.
We want to be a true community partner in investing our time, our resources, and our people into the places that we call home.
And so whether it's supporting these fun local events and having a great time or educational opportunities, supporting community organizations, we're proud to help build a stronger community together.
And we're on the mission to advance people from a place of financial need to a life of ownership and giving back to our communities.
And we do that through what we call our core values.
And that is commitment, compassion, collaboration, and courage.
And the fifth one is our heart and our passion for communities, really the heart and soul of everything we do.
And so when you think of that credit union difference, think of the service difference, the community difference of everything we do, we put in the best interest of our community.
and our members.
You know, they couldn't have picked a better guy for doing this because you seem like a real nice guy and you like beagles.
So, I mean, you can't, that's a great combination for working with the community because I trust anybody who has a beagle.
I have a beagle and a coon hound and I appreciate your kind words because sometimes they test my patience.
I have five beagles.
The thing about them, when you take them for a walk, it's kind of hard because
They go where their nose tells them to go.
They really do.
And they don't want to be pulled away from that smell wherever they're going.
And Coonham, too, the same thing.
Yeah, they want to go where their nose tells them.
Well, and I'm not kidding.
Marine Credit Union had the best guy for doing this because you believe what you're doing.
Absolutely.
We don't just talk the talk.
We walk the talk and it's a blessing to serve with some amazing teammates.
And we get to do work that really makes a difference in everyday lives of individuals in our community.
Thank you, Aaron.
Thank
you so much,
Aaron McCullum, who is the community lead for Marine Credit Union.
You know, all my years in radio, there are two words I can't say, Saturday and community.
I could say them quietly like that, but if they're in a sentence, I can't say them.
This is going on my entire radio career, community and Saturday.
So if you guys ever have an event on a Saturday, I'm not cutting the commercial because I
can't say community and Saturday in the same sentence.
Well, we cannot wait to see you and.
our community this Saturday.
Yeah, thank you.
At the family fest from 10 to 2 in Bel City Square and happy National Radio Day, Don.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Have a good one.
Aaron McCullum for Marine Credit Union.