Kelly Baldwin is living proof that lollipops on the teller line, however simple they may be, are a terrific marketing tool for the credit union industry.
As a young child accompanying her mother on errands, Baldwin fondly remembered the tellers at her local credit union, who gave her lollipops whenever she came in, and she said that’s when she decided she wanted to be a teller someday.
She got her chance eight years ago in college, when she joined St. Anne’s Credit Union as a part-time teller, and since then, Baldwin has moved through the ranks to become the credit union’s marketing and community reinvestment act officer, a position she’s held for three years.
Ed O’Donnell, executive vice president at Sundin Assoc., said his agency had been working with the credit union for some time before Baldwin’s ascension to the role of marketing director and he was so impressed with her energy and enthusiasm for the job that he nominated her as a Credit Union Hero.
Before Baldwin took on the marketing gig, he said, the agency may have put together one press release a month.
“Now all of a sudden, we’re putting together five press releases a month for five different donations, and she is the one who’s leading it all,” he said.
But more than anything else, he said, O’Donnell has been impressed with how Baldwin volunteers her own time and energy for many of the local causes St. Anne’s Credit Union champions.
“Donating time, to me, is so much more impressive and so much more valuable than donating money. That’s what blows me away,” he said. “When I see people who live, work in, and give back to the community, it’s just so refreshing.”
For Baldwin, the chance to help others is one of the main benefits of working at a credit union. She recalled Christmas seasons past when she and her family shopped for gifts for less fortunate children, and when she went through a difficult time in her own life, she came out on the other side, even more determined to give back as much as possible.
“Credit unions are about people helping people. That’s why I love being part of this organization so much, because we do help as many people as we can,” Baldwin said. “That’s our number one goal, helping people. I’m really proud to be in this position.”
While she’s happy to help anybody in her community who needs it, Baldwin named the Red Cross, a back-to-school backpack drive and Toys for Tots, as just a few of the causes near and dear to her heart.
That surely reflects on Baldwin’s own parents, whom she said she hopes to emulate when she becomes a mother herself (any day now).
She said, “I was raised with so much love and I just have so much respect for my parents, so I hope I can be half of what they were to my daughter.”
