Here are two amazing updates to our event:
#1: Housing at the hostel is being completely sponsored by Palmetto Cooperative Services.
Yup! Palmetto Cooperative Services is covering the complete costs of 20 beds at Hostelling International DC, which is just a few blocks from the convention center where it’ll all happen.
You may be asking, “What does this mean for my $50 deposit that would have gone to housing?” Thanks to them, it means you’ll get it back as cashmoney when we see each other in DC.
If you’re not sure what to do with the $100 they’re saving you, here are a few ideas:
- A garbage truck full of packing peanuts. (from Stacy Dugan)
- $100 worth of Snuggies. (from Josh Jones)
- Five Shake-Weights™. (from Carlos Pasculado)
- Lots and lots and lots of socks. (from Tim McAlpine)
- A paper-mache toilet made out of 100 one dollar bills. (from Chad Gowan)
- Buying a gaggle of newts and releasing them in the halls at your former elementary school. (from Cheryl Wiens)
- Advice from Ron Shevlin on how to spend $100. (from Ron Shevlin)
…OR you can just use it toward your plane ticket and food when you come, because that’s all you’ll have to pay for now.
Special thanks to Mark Curran, who orchestrated the sponsorship.
#2: CUNA is offering full GAC passes to 20 credit union professionals from our group.
Thanks to incredible support from CUNA’s Center for Professional Development, select Crashers can have their cake and eat it too. Crashers that are awarded scholarships will have full access to all GAC events, completely gratis.
Here are the details on the scholarship passes:
- In order to qualify, you must work for a credit union or league, be under 30 years old, and be a member of CUNA.
- Scholarships will be awarded based on a testimonial from your supervisor or CEO, a personal account of your involvement in the credit union movement, and your answer to the question, “Why will attending the GAC benefit you and your credit union?”
- CUNA is still working on the application. As soon as it’s done and online, I’ll post about it here and on Twitter and it’s off to the races with you (another reason to follw us on Twitter).
It’s important to note that we’re building the Crash agenda so it will almost never conflict with the actual GAC agenda (updates to the agenda will go live tomorrow). This will keep the Crashers with GAC scholarships from having to make an either/or decision…instead it’ll be all AND.
I’ve honestly been overwhelmed by the amount of support we’ve received emotionally, monetarily, and conversationally for the event. Huge thanks again to both CUNA’s Center for Professional Development and Palmetto Cooperative Services, and also to all of the rest of you who’ve gotten behind this.
I can’t wait to get there and meet all of you.
Post updated: Jan 7th at 1:35pm EST.
4 Comments
What you have put together, Brent, is quite impressive! What a great example of taking an idea, running with it, and putting it into action. It is even more impressive that it was done in a short amount of time.
I am so glad to see CUNA supporting the event and the sponsorship by Palmetto Cooperative Services.
Thanks so much Carla. There have been a ton of people helping to make it happen. I hope this throwdown is where we finally get to meet!
As soon as I heard about “Crash the GAC” it reminded me of an experience I had almost 20 years ago. Back in 1991, I was a 31 year old regional manager for a large credit union in NC. As a mid-level manager, I had no opportunity to attend any credit union industry events beyond the local chapter meetings.
In February of 1991, thousands of credit union people descended on Washington, DC for “Operation Grassroots” in conjunction with that year’s GAC. Those who couldn’t travel to DC organized and attended local grassroots events at the chapter/state level to raise awareness of CU legislative & regulatory issues.
Our chapter decided to charter a bus to take people to DC for the rally. About 40 credit union professionals and volunteers rode 6 hours on the bus until we arrived at the appointed DC hotel. I bought my own ticket for the bus and couldn’t afford the DC hotel rates, so I took a cab to stay with friends of my parents. They were good enough to feed me and give me a warm bed.
The next morning, I took another cab to the US Capital. There, nearly 10,000 credit union people from all over the country were gathering for the rally. It was one of the most amazing events in which I have ever participated.
Of course I ran into my CEO during the rally and he was quite surprised to see me. He gave me the “what are you doing here?” look. I told him I had taken 2 vacation days and paid my own way to attend. After that, I was budgeted to attend more and more credit union meetings, both in-state and out.
Through the connections I made throughout the movement, I was able to land a job with CUNA Mutual. That eventually led me to the South Carolina Credit Union League and their service corp, Palmetto Cooperative Services. While PCS is an independent CUSO today, we are still firmly grounded in the credit union movement.
If PCS can help to inspire a future credit union leader, just as I was inspired back in 1991, our sponsorship will have been paid back. That’s why I wanted us to be a part of this very special event.
Thank you for sharing that Mark. Your story is what’s so right about credit unions. It’s about people standing up for what they believe in. You made the choice to travel to Washington DC on your own dime because you wanted to make a difference and be apart of something special.
When Brent first talked to me about CrashTheGAC I had that same feeling you probably had 20 years ago…this is going to be something special.
Like you I was ready to foot the bill myself but fortunately my boss saw this as an opportunity I couldn’t pass up and agreed to pay for my airfare.
I really hope there are 30-something CU folks out there reading this and looking at this site knowing this is a great opportunity for them. There is a good chance this doesn’t happen again, so do what you can to be a part of it now.
Looking forward to meeting and hanging out with 20 of the coolest CU peeps around.
Let’s stay together…Let’s learn together…Let’s go make history together!
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