Returning spokester shares about exciting summer events
By Jennifer Neutel
Kelsey MacDonald, Young & Free Alberta’s spokester, says she enjoys being the link between Generation Y and Servus Credit Union and hopes to teach people along the way.
Young & Free Alberta, powered by Servus Credit Union, creates engagement and ongoing relationships with 17- to 25-year-olds.
Kelsey held the yearlong spokester position in 2010, when she was also a full-time student. Now she is done school and using her social personality to connect with Alberta youth.
“Giving you a voice, a headstart and useful information” is the program’s tagline. This is accomplished through providing useful financial information, hiring a spokester to be a voice for young members, sharing blogs and advice on a dedicated website and giving a head start through the Young & Free Chequing Account.
Kate Balon, Young & Free Alberta’s segment specialist, says having a young spokester is crucial to the program.
“It’s somebody that’s advocating on the Gen Y behalf, someone talking with them, reaching out to people in Gen Y and hearing what their needs or wants are and responding to them,” says Kate.
Since initially launching the program in 2008, and re-launching it provincially in 2010, Kate says the credit union has seen an increase in young members.
“We’ve definitely seen some exciting growth in that age demographic within our credit union throughout the past four years,” says Kate.
Spokester Kelsey MacDonald does an interview during an event in Lethbridge.
The YoungFreeAlberta.com website has a new blog posted five days a week, links to videos and social media channels.
“One of my favourite things about being spokester is how connected I am through social media,” says Kelsey, 22. “I get to talk to so many different people about not only financial topics but also just random things that are interesting to Generation Y.”
Kelsey says she’s always having fun on the job, from attending school orientations and summer festivals to interacting with people on Twitter and Facebook.
“One big thing that I think people my age don’t know about Servus Credit Union is the fact that we have a profit-sharing program,” says Kelsey.
In 2011, Servus gave $44.3 million back to its members, which Kelsey notes is “huge.” She says young people may not realize that when they take out a student loan they get some of that money back each year.
Students under 25 can also benefit from the Young and Free chequing account, which has no monthly fees.
Among the events Kelsey’s looking forward to this summer is a July 18 Hedley concert at Westerner Days Fair & Exposition in Red Deer. The concert is being presented by Kraze 101.3 and Young & Free Alberta.
Young & Free members have the chance to win meet and greet passes and front row tickets. Non-members have until July 9 to sign up for a Young & Free account to be entered to win VIP tickets.
This year the Young & Free scholarship program is open for applications from Aug. 15 to Sept. 24. Post-secondary students across Alberta can apply via an essay or video, and 30 winners will win a $1,000 scholarship. There are also iPad giveaways in the people’s choice bonus contest for applicants with the most votes.
“It’s a really cool process and I really hope we get lots of applicants this year,” says Kelsey.
Visit http://youngfreealberta.com/ to learn more.
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This article is available for republication under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) license.
These stories are made possible through support from Servus Credit Union
