here - Sunrise Credit Union

Credit Union celebrates 75 years of
service to its members in Boissevain
Sunrise Credit Union in Boissevain celebrated their 75th
anniversary last week. The community was invited to
the local branch for a BBQ lunch and cake on Friday,
April 29. Members could also travel down memory lane
with the Credit Union’s archive display of record books,
photos and old currency.
Boissevain Branch staff include: (front to back) Jim
Dickinson, Branch Manager; Hailey DeYaegher, Memby PAUL RAYNER
Boissevain Recorder staff
Regardless of its size, office
location or name, the credit union
movement in this community has
served it well for 75 years.
The Boissevain branch of the
Sunrise Credit Union celebrated
its major anniversary on Friday,
April 29. According to branch
manager Jim Dickinson, the day
went well with a good turnout
and moved smoothly due to the
staff breaking down into different committees to look after
parts like food and decorating.
It gave everyone an opportunity
to glance back to the early days.
“When you think back 75
years to when it opened,” Dickinson said, “it was 1941, during
the war. A group of local people
got together and decided this is
what people needed. It started
with just pennies, and now it is
a multimillion dollar branch.”
As Dickinson explained, the
credit union movement started
in Europe in the 1850’s, and had
its Canadian roots in the Maritimes at the start of the 1900’s. It
moved west, reaching the Prairie
Provinces by the 1940’s.
“That means this was one of
the first ones on the prairies.”
There certainly were financial institutions at the time,
but credit unions always pride
themselves on having somewhat
ber Service Rep; Leanne Pringle, Loans Officer; Joan
Robertson, Loans Officer; Tiffany Ramsden, Service Rep;
Vicky Wanner, Service Rep; Michelle Harper, Loans Clerk;
Jeremy Doerksen, Service Rep; Cathy Workman, Service
Rep; Heather Wood, Office Supervisor; Don McNamee,
Service Rep. Missing: Elmer McCallum, Loans Officer.
PHOTO BY LORRAINE HOUSTON, EDITOR
BOISSEVAIN RECORDER
of a different focus, as Dickinson
explained.
“The credit union is definitely
local,” he said, “all of the profits
go back to the community. Everything we do is local. When we
are buying stuff for the branch,
we support our local community.
All of the decisions are local.”
Why did a credit union start
in the area in 1941? Dickinson
speculated that everyone had
gone through the Depression,
and perhaps the banks were not
lending anymore, so people had
to take things into their own
hands.
That is quite similar to the
beginnings recounted in Beckoning Hills Revisited. In fact,
the institution had its roots in
the local district of Wassewa,
where residents were trying to
work together to help alleviate
their financial problems. They
received booklets of ideas from
the Manitoba Federation of Agriculture and one of those was
a credit union. With the help
of Fawcett Ransom who had
worked to set these institutions
up previously, three study groups
were formed in 1940 to look
into the possibility. People were
encouraged to save what they
could for the future “mutual aid
society”, and finally on April 29,
1941, the Wassewa Credit Union
was formed. In June, they set interest rates at eight percent, and a
Staff in front of the Boissevain Credit Union in 1977 (now home of BDO accounting office) (l-r) Patty Opperman,
Mrs. Rachel DeClerc, Mrs. Vic Harrison, Barbara Hicks, and Manager Ron Kehler.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BOISSEVAIN MORTON LIBRARY & ARCHIVES
minimum interest charge was set
at twenty-five cents on any loan.
Twenty-five passbooks were ordered for members. Those books
would be very important in the
early years, Dickinson said.
“You had to make sure you did
not lose your passbook, because
everything was kept on a ledger.
You had to bring your passbook
with you when you did business.”
He added they did not have
paid staff for the first few years,
and when they first started, deposits were put in a teapot and
taken home for security. In 1942,
a committee was appointed to
buy a safe at $15 or less.
Later in the ‘40’s, the office
was moved to Boissevain, having
a spot in the old Co-op building.
It was open two afternoons a
week and on Saturday evenings
in the summer. Moving around
would become common for the
credit union. It would be in the
basement of the newer Co-op
store in the 1960’s, about the
same time the name was changed
to Boissevain Credit Union Ltd.,
and would later move on to what
is now the BDO building by
the end of that decade. In 1980,
they moved in to their present
location. When asked about the
1970’s home, Dickinson said he
did not think they would have the
room there for the operation as
it stands now.
Probably the biggest changes
over the years have been, as with
everything, technology. Ledgers
gave way to computers and new
pieces were added all the time.
For example, the ATM was added
in 2001. That year was also when
the credit union made a big move.
Already in 1989, the institution had taken over the closed
Royal Bank branch in Minto.
But an amalgamation was on
the table with Deloraine. It was
passed in October 2001 and the
Turtle Mountain Credit Union
was born. It was around that time
that Dickinson joined the team.
He has been in Boissevain
for 10 years, coming from the
Royal Bank in Melita. He was
called by then TMCU manager
Keith Wooldridge, with whom he
had worked in Flin Flon, asking
if he was interested in the loans
manager position. He said he
thought about it for two hours
and took it. He needed a change.
“With the Royal Bank, when I
was doing an agriculture loan, my
lending limits were minimal,”
Dickinson explained. “It had to
go to Calgary for approval, and
they didn’t know the person.”
He added the credit union is a
more relaxed atmosphere, and he
appreciates the welcoming atmosphere for members coming in.
After a couple of years there,
another amalgamation meant
Boissevain joining Sunrise with a
host of other communities. Dickinson became branch manager
in town, as Wooldridge helped
with transition before retiring.
Dickinson said mergers helped
update the branch.
“There are a lot of technological changes that we could do as
a bigger credit union.”
Bigger it certainly is. Dickinson said they probably made
about $90 in their first year. realizes no one knew this back
By 1959, the assets were up to in 1941. It took courage to take
$45,105. In 1984, they were up the plunge and get the ball rolling.
to more than $7 million. At the
“I think we owe a great deal
end of December 2015, deposit to those individuals who started
size was around $82.5 million, the credit union. They felt the
with loans at about $67 million. need for it in Boissevain and
No teapots needed now!
just did it.”
Although
there is still a
board, there
is no need for
volunteer staff,
as there are 12
people currently. The manager thinks it is
the largest crew
they have had.
He said success is due to
many factors.
The way they
do business, offering advice to
members and
helping them
find the place
to get answers
when they do
not have them.
The community
focus – what
was called “people helping people” from day
one – remains Janice Coulter, Sr. Auditor with Sunrise
a major part of Credit Union, cuts the anniversary cake
everything they during the Boissevain Branch’s 75th
do. The credit
anniversary celebration held in town
union in Boissevain remains on Friday, April 29. About 240 guests
a vital part of attended a BBQ lunch to help the local
branch celebrate their diamond annithe area.
D i c k i n s o n verary. PHOTO BY LORRAINE HOUSTON