It’s time to CELEBRATE!

North Shore Federal has several reasons to celebrate in the month of July. 

First of all, we are often asked, “How is the Duluth branch doing?” Well, the answer is GREAT!  We’ve already reached the one-year anniversary for this location!  Becoming part of the Duluth community has been very rewarding and we’ve enjoyed the opportunity to meet new friends and help members with their financial needs.  

Not surprisingly, our Duluth branch has experienced tremendous growth and almost all of our new business grew from satisfied members personally recommending our services to their friends and neighbors.  We look forward to continuing this trend.  For our existing members, if you haven’t seen the new location stop by and say hi - existing members find it popular when visiting Duluth.

Second reason to celebrate, next week is Member Appreciation Week.  I have greatly enjoyed attending the cookouts at our locations and getting to meet members for the first time.  Please check our website for a list of the events and do not forget to put our famous brat cookout day on your calendar and join us for lunch. 

Remember to enter your name into the Grand Prize drawing for the week at your local branch!  We make sure those grand prizes are pretty grand! Oh yes, keep your fingers crossed for a sun filled week!

Last but not least, we are REWARDING one lucky hunger hero with $500 cash in July!!  Don’t overlook becoming a HUNGER HERO and help end hunger in our communities.  Through North Shore Federal’s Hunger Hero initiative, we will be making another round of donations to the local food shelves with matched donations.

Becoming a hero is super simple.  Next time you are at the branch just tell them you want to become a Hunger Hero.  You’ll designate a dollar amount; sign a slip and we take care of the rest.  If you are savvy with online banking you can sign-up through eBranch under “my account”.  Either way quick and easy and helps those on the North Shore that are struggling to feed their families.

Cassie

Where's Rena?

Rena Carlson worked in our Grand Marais office for nearly 30 years.  She was a great employee – knowledgeable, friendly and dedicated to our members.

Rena retired six years ago and shortly after, a member who worked with Rena for many years came to see her.  We explained that Rena was retired and that we would have her work with one of our other staff members.   

Well, the member became quite flustered and told me that “I always work with Rena – I have to work with Rena”. I was kind of stumped at that point.  Short of telling her that I didn’t think I had the authority to tell Rena she couldn’t retire, I didn’t have a good answer.  Everything worked out fine but it is a good example of how important these relationships are in our industry.

From an age perspective, our workforce is similar to society in general, with a strong contingent of baby boomers.  In other words, we have several employees who are coming into retirement age.  This, combined with our strong rate of growth, means there will be plenty of new faces showing up at your local branch.

This isn’t a bad thing - fresh blood and new ideas invigorate our operations.  It’s important to note, however, that we are preparing for this change in several ways.  Last year we created a full time training position – this person extensively trains our new and existing employees as well as creates precise documentation to ensure our work is of the highest quality.  We are really seeing the benefits of this idea as our new employees are performing at a very high level in a shorter amount of time.

We also have the luxury of hiring people in advance of when we absolutely need them.  This gives us more time for training and for them to gain experience in a supervised environment before they go out on their own.

So the next time you see a new face at your local branch, just consider them the “next” Rena.

Mark